Irony of ironies really that all eyes were on one Scotsman with ambitions to make the Ryder Cup, and it was another who stole his thunder.
As Russell Knox, a recent winner on tour, struggled in the first round of The Barclays championship, it was his compatriot Martin Laird who muscled his way into the business end of affairs.
Laird, who didn’t take up European Tour membership and so can’t be considered for the Ryder Cup defence at Hazeltine next month, shot an opening round 66, five-under-par, to share the clubhouse lead with Patrick Reed who is expected to be one of Davis Love III’s main men in the US’s attempts to reclaim the famous trophy.
Bonus
Knox and Graeme McDowell are among the European players in the field at The Barclays – the first of the four FedEx Cup playoff series tournaments which has a bonus of $10 million to whoever emerges as the ultimate champion – aiming to catch the eye of Europe’s captain Darren Clarke. But neither impressed in the opening round.
McDowell had four bogeys and three birdies in shooting a one-over-par 72. He got off to a fine start with a birdie on the second hole, where he hit a pitching wedge approach from 117 yards to four feet and rolled in the putt.
But bogeys on the third and fifth came as a speed bump to his round before he chipped in for a birdie on the Par 5 seventh. Further bogeys on the 11th and 16th and a birdie two on the 17th, where he sank an 18-footer, gave McDowell a solid opening round score.
Rory McIlroy also struggled at the start, even with a new putter in his bag. McIlroy, the world number five, is ranked 96th in putting on the PGA Tour this season, and has a Scotty Cameron prototype mallet putter in his bag this week.
“I feel like with the putter change to a mallet, it doesn’t encourage that face to close that much, which is the bad putt I was getting,” McIlroy said. “So just sort of encourages the face to stay a little more square through impact.”
McIlroy suffered back-to-back bogeys on the 15th and 16th holes (the sixth and seventh of his round, after he started on the 10th).
On the 15th, an errant drive into rough was compounded by a three-putt after he managed to find the green and then he put his approach into a greenside bunker on the 16th and failed to get up and down.
His first birdie of the round came on the second, where he hit a wedge approach to four feet. McIlroy got back to level par with a birdie on the Par 5 fourth.
He then went one-under with another birdie on the Par 5 seventh. However, his up and down round continued with a bogey on the eighth. McIlroy made a par on his final hole to finish the day level on 71.
For Reed, his run of good form comes at just the right time as the US gears up for a tilt at the Ryder Cup. [CROSSHEAD]Sweet revenge[/CROSSHEAD] Of what the event means to him, Reed said: “It’s the Ryder Cup. I mean, you only have two team events every two years and both of them, all the guys are trying to make them to play in. I know for me this year, it’s about getting sweet revenge. Because my first one was down at Gleneagles, and I played some great golf, but at the end of the day our team didn’t win. So for us, it’s sweet revenge, go back out and keep that cup here in the United States.”
Defending champion Jason Day is in hot pursuit of Reed, two strokes back. Day, who won last year when the tournament was held at Plainfield Country Club, returned a 68.
“It was a clean day,” Reed, a four-times winner on the PGA Tour, said after a bogey-free round that also included an eagle and three birdies, all of them coming on his homeward nine. “I feel like I hit the ball pretty solid.”
Great
Reed is scrambling for one of the last three automatic spots on the US Ryder Cup team to take on holders Europe at Hazeltine from September 30th-October 2nd.
US Open champion Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson, PGA Championship winner Jimmy Walker and Ryder rookie Brooks Koepka have already secured their berths, with the final three automatic selections to be decided after The Barclays. Reed, who sits eighth in the cup standings, is vying with players such as Brandt Snedeker, Zach Johnson, Bubba Watson and Olympic bronze medallist Matt Kuchar for those spots.
Day, the game’s best player over the past year with seven tournament wins in his last 23 starts, was relatively happy with a return of four birdies and a lone bogey in his first competitive round in nearly a month.
“Overall, I felt great,” said the 28-year-old Australian, who finished second at the US PGA Championship last month in his most recent start.
American world number two Dustin Johnson opened with a 70 while Olympic gold medallist Justin Rose, of England, battled to a 73.
