British Open 2012: Latest Chatter for Round 2

Adam Scott is the surprising leader after Day 1 at the Open Championship, but he has quite a few big names on his trail.

Zach Johnson is just one stroke back. Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Bubba Watson and a slew of other top-notch players are just three strokes back. 

The weather at the Open usually provides for some inconsistent play, but it was rather forgiving on Thursday, allowing for an unordinary amount of rounds below par. 

Let's take a look at the recent buzz surrounding the top golfers as we prepare for a second round that likely has more surprises in store. 

Can Adam Scott Keep it Up?

Australian Adam Scott has eight career PGA Tour wins, but he has yet to win a major, although the 32-year-old finished second at the Masters last year.

After a first-round 64, however, not only did Scott come within two strokes of recording the best major round ever, he has put himself in quite a unique position (via ESPN Stats and Info):

"

Adam Scott leads the Open Championship after the 1st round (-6). It's the 1st time he has led after ANY round of ANY major in his career.

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) July 19, 2012"

If that doesn't do something for Scott's confidence and momentum, I'm not sure what will.

Tiger in History

PGA.com gives us a couple interesting factoids about Tiger Woods' opening round. 

First, this one about his success after birdying the first hole:

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Tiger Woods had an auspicious start to his tournament with a birdie on the opening hole. This was the fourth time in 2012 that Woods began a tournament with birdie or better on the first hole. He did it at Pebble Beach in February (finished in a tie for 15th), at The Honda Classic in March (finished in a tie for second), and at the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship in March (withdrew with an Achilles injury in the final round). It’s the ninth overall time that Woods has started a major that way. He won just one of those nine events — the 2007 PGA Championship.

"

The event of birdying the first hole and success in a tournament likely have no real correlation, but it's still an interesting fact about how much Woods has struggled after a promising start. Chalk it up to coincidence. 

Then we have this note about how Woods was putting to start his day:

"

Woods was 4 under through seven holes on Thursday thanks to a sharp short game — he had just eight putts through those seven holes. It marked the first time in six years — since the 2006 Deutsche Bank Championship — that he had eight or fewer putts through the first seven holes of a tournament.

"

You can rest assured that if Woods manages to putt like that for large spans over the next few days, he will bring home his 15th major. 

Bring Back the Bogeys

There was an unusual amount of rounds below par on Thursday, especially for an Open Championship. As ESPN's Gene Wojciechowski suggests, that had to do with the weather, but it just didn't feel right:

"

The Open Championship is supposed to be a four-day weather wedgie, the rainsuit capital of golf. You're supposed to leave here with windburn and with mud caked to your cleats. You're supposed to see whitecaps on the nearby Irish Sea.

Instead, we got Palm Springs. The only thing missing was an umbrella drink.

"

I tend to agree. Six-under rounds are nice to watch, but not at the Open Championship. I want to see golfers fight with 20 mph winds, torrential downpours, balls sticking to the grass because the grounds are so soaked. 

I want to see mayhem for at least one weekend per year. 

The weather reports don't suggest that will happen, however, so on Friday, expect plenty of more solid rounds from Scott, Woods, Bubba, Rory and the rest of the leaders. Hopefully, like usual, the weathermen are wrong. 

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