SOUTHPORT, England — It was a first round of high adventure in the wind and the wet at Royal Birkdale, where pars felt like birdies or better and bogeys weren’t all that awful.
“Bloody miserable,” said Australian Craig Parry, the first to tee off Thursday, of the brutal conditions at the 137th British Open. The pelting rain abated later, but scores soared for some of the grandest names in golf.
Still, when the carnage had ended shortly before 9 p.m., Rocco Mediate was right back in the mix of a major championship. Four weeks ago, Mediate took Tiger Woods to the absolute limit in the U.S. Open before losing in a Monday playoff. Thursday, with a birdie-birdie finish early in the evening, including a chip-in from deep rough off the 17th green, Mediate stunned himself — and anyone who watched his physical therapist manipulate his hip as he lay in the rough at the 11th hole — by shooting a 1-under-par 69 in his first British Open appearance since 2002.
That four-birdie, three-bogey score tied him for the first-round lead with Graeme McDowell, who won the Scottish Open four days ago, and Robert Allenby, with three top-four finishes in his last six events on the PGA Tour. Those two also birdied the final two holes on a day when the scoring average was 6-over 76.
“I have no explanation whatsoever, no idea why that happened,” said Mediate of his lofty perch. Therapist Cindi Hilfman apparently got the kinks out well enough for him to make three birdies down the stretch; he needed only 21 putts, fewest in the 156-man field.
“A lot of times you’ve just got to survive; you’ll probably hear that from everybody,” said Mediate, plagued by back problems throughout his 23-year career. “But I made pretty much every single putt I could have made today. It was just one of those rounds. I would have been ecstatic with 73 or 74 today. It’s a hard course. It’s a long course. It’s windy. It was cold this morning. I’m old.”
There were several other surprises. Greg Norman, 53, came in at even-par 70, and could have tied for the lead if his 18-foot birdie putt at the 18th had not veered just off line at the very end. Norman, who has missed the cut in all three PGA Tour events he has played this season, was tied with Adam Scott, the only man in the field to get to 2-under before he bogeyed two of his last three holes, and Bart Bryant, who birdied the 18th.
Other prominent players also were sniffing the lead, including two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen, 2003 U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk and 2003 Masters winner Mike Weir in a gaggle of eight players at 71. Sergio Garcia, the pre-tournament favorite and runner-up at Carnoustie last year, shot 72. Defending champion Padraig Harrington was at 74 despite a sore right wrist.
Others were not quite that fortunate. Phil Mickelson, the No. 2-ranked player in the world, must have known it was going to be a trying morning when he pumped his fist after making a 6-foot putt to save a bogey on the first hole. It was about the only stroke he could celebrate en route to a 79.
