Day 1: The 2013 Open Championship

The 1st round of the 2013 Open Championship is now complete. Atop the leaderboard is Zach Johnson (USA) who shot a 5-under 66 earlier this morning. Surprisingly not too far behind Johnson are some older players, 56 year-old Mark O'Meara who shot a 4-under 67 and is tied for second, 49 year-old Miguel Angel Jimenez (AKA The Most Interesting Golfer in the World) who shot a 3-under 68 and is tied for fourth with 54 year-old Tom Lehman and others.

The main story of the day though was how different the front nine played from the back nine. The front nine was playing easier and under-par opportunities were possible, however this was not the case on the back nine. A perfect example of this is Indian golfer Shiv Kapur, who shot a 6-under 30 on the front nine, but struggled to a 3-over 38 to finish 3-under.

My picks also faired out okay. G-Mac struggled on a few holes and finished the day at 4-over, as did Geoff Ogilvy, and both are tied for 77th. Dustin Johnson, on the other had, shot a 3-under 68 during his morning round and is tied for fourth.

The conditions were tough for some of the players. After a bad shot out of Muirfield's notorious rough, South African player Charl Schwartzel threw his 5-iron at the ground in anger, snapping it in half. Also, Thomas Bjorn, also in the rough, took a shot that hit one of the broadcasting crew's Tv camera, which reportedly costed around $80,000!

 Zach Johnson during his opening round (Matthew Lewis / Getty Images)

It should be interesting to see what Muirfield will be like if the weather turns,

-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews