It was a long day at the Old Course in St. Andrews on Thursday. Afternoon rounds dragged in tougher winds, but the morning crowd rolled right through the most historic course in golf. In total, the afternoon wave shot nearly a stroke and a half over par while the early tee times played it just a shade under par.
No player took more advantage of the wave split than Cameron Young, who steamrolled his way to an 8-under 64. The most impressive part is definitely the bogey-free round on a course where the smallest mistake can be magnified. He’ll need to continue playing great golf to stay at the top the rest of the way as there is quite a list of names looking to chase him down. That list starts with Rory McIlroy, who fired a six-under 66. One shot behind him is Cameron Smith, who has a stroke advantage on the likes of Viktor Hovland, Dustin Johnson and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler after the opening round.
The players that got an afternoon time on Thursday will roll right back out on Friday morning in some cold and potentially rainy conditions. They may have drawn the short end of the stick this week, but with weather changing on a dime in Scotland, we can’t really rely too much on that going into Friday. I’ll keep a lookout for weather changes leading into the second round, though for now I’m playing it weather neutral.