Troon (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Scottish veteran Colin Montgomerie and South Korea’s Lee Sang-Hee made strong starts at the British Open on Thursday to take an early share of the first-round lead.
Playing in his home-town Open, the 53-year-old Montgomerie had the honour of hitting the first tee shot of the championship at 6:35 am local time (0535 GMT).
He found a greenside bunker with his approach to the 367-yard par-four first hole and ended up with a double-bogey six.
Nevertheless, in glorious early morning sunshine and with only a light breeze, Montgomerie recovered in remarkable fashion to birdie five of the next eight holes and hit the turn at three under par.
In his debut Open appearance, Lee joined him at three-under after birdies at three of the first four holes.
Also at three-under early on were English amateur Scott Gregory, former US Open champion Jim Furyk and his fellow American Justin Thomas.
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