Montgomerie recovers from 1st-hole problems at British Open

HITTING the first shot of the opening round of this Open championship over his home course was a great honour for Colin Montgomerie.

Three more dropped shots along the back nine continued Montgomerie’s slide down the leaderboard, but didn’t stop large crowds gathering to see the home favourite walk up the 18th fairway in a Royal Troon Open for one last time. Tomorrow we’re talking seven, eight out of 10.

Monty, 53, is an honorary member of Royal Troon.

Montgomerie, who hit the opening shot of the tournament at 6:35am on Thursday, thought bogeys at the 15th and 18th in a second round of 75 had ruined his chances of making the final two rounds. Given the honor to stripe the first tee ball, the Scot may have started with a bit less focus than usual.

Four bogeys and a birdie on the front nine meant the eight-time European Order of Merit winner’s score continued to slide deeper into the blue.

JUST ANOTHER DAY: There wasn’t anything to celebrate here, but the next two weeks there will be for world No. 1 Jason Day. He was apologetic but also smiling later as he holed out for eagle.

He recovered from a double-bogey six at the first to shoot a respectable 71.

Troon’s 145th Open may well by Montgomerie’s last and he admits it’s hard to face up to saying goodbye. He may, however, take solace from the fact that Porteous skipped round quickly yesterday on his way to a three-under 68.

Steve Stricker of the USA reacts after narrowly missing a birdie chance on the 11th green.

McIlroy’s chip ended up in a bunker, from where he escaped with a par, while Watson pitched to 10 feet and birdied.

The 25-year-old Texan sits at five under par, one shot clear from his fellow American Justin Thomas after both made the most of the conditions on a glorious day on Scotland’s west coast.

Kieron saved his best for the Postage Stamp – the par-three 8th hole at Royal Troon, which measures just 123 yards.

But, after dropping a shot at 12, further problems came after another complicated bunker visit at 14 before the rough and the bank of the burn undid him on the par-five 16th.

“I’d love to try and do that again”.

That was seven shots behind halfway leader Phil Mickelson, who was due out at 3:20pm alongside nearest challenger Henrik Stenson, who finished runner-up to the five-time major victor at Muirfield in 2013.

Kieron’s incredible weekend began with a phone call from Open organisers the R&A on Friday night inviting him to play alongside 22-year-old Haydn Porteous in the third round.