Rain-battered Lyle walks off – but gritty Graeme storms on

Jul 18 2008 The Journal

GRAEME Storm battled his way to a 76 as the wind and rain battered many into submission in the first round of the Open Championship.

It was too much for former Open and Masters Championship Sandy Lyle, who walked off after nine holes, leaving Storm and Scott Strange to soldier on – the Australian crumbled to an 84 but the North East’s lone Open competitor is very much in the mix after finishing six over par.

“Sandy was something like nine or 10 over par and the weather was deteriorating at that point and I think he’s just had enough,” said the 30-year-old from Hartlepool.

“He was struggling a bit from the start and finding it difficult to hang on to the club. He made seven at nine and it looked as if he didn’t fancy battling against it on the back nine, but he’s played in plenty of Opens.

“There was no way I was coming off. I was grinding hard and I’d made a couple of good saves and although it was frustrating at times, I was going to get it round the best I could.

“The fact that we were a two-ball afterwards didn’t affect us. We weren’t held up except for a couple of holes towards the end like at 17 – which is a par five and you have to wait for the green to clear anyway.” Storm felt he played three or four shots better than a 76 and also felt the R and A, who run the Open, should have been more sympathetic and moved two or three tees forward given the appalling conditions

“The bad weather seems to follow me around at the Open,” added Storm, “or maybe it follows you! Every time you turn up it seems to turn nasty. I thought it was bad at the London Club but I think today it was possibly worse.

“But at the London Club we had a few more chances to score and had this been a European Tour event, a few of the tees would have been pushed forward. You don’t need the tees this far back when the weather’s like this. It’s hard enough to hit the fairways never mind having to worry about reaching them. When I watch golf, I want to watch players playing to the best of their abilities and making birdies. The par fours are tough but 16 was really comical. They should really have put the tee forward there. I watched the group in front and they didn’t even reach the fairway with the tee shots.

“Damian McGrane was hitting a driver out of the rough and didn’t even reach the green. There’s plenty of trouble on that hole – and on this golf course – and they should have pushed a few tees forward, but I’d better not say any more otherwise I could get into trouble.”

Storm was through the turn in two over, dropping shots at the third and seventh which was pretty good going in some awful weather. He did well with damage limitation on the back nine with bogeys on 11, 13, 16 and the last.

“I’ve come off there very frustrated,” he said. “I’ve really worked hard and ground it out today. I’ve had one or two chances but, unfortunately, the putts just haven’t dropped. It was very severe and the rain was coming down hard at different times, you were putting your jacket on, taking it off, the umbrella was going up and down,

“My score looks pretty decent as we speak and I don’t know how anyone has got it under par, but I am pretty frustrated because I feel I deserve a score of something like two or three over par.

“Hopefully, I will have a few more chances and hole a few more putts tomorrow – and if the conditions are the same maybe the R and A will move a few tees forward.

“It’s hard enough with the rough here and it’s tough when you’re hitting drives that are only going about 220 yards. I really busted two three woods and neither of them went over 200 yards!

“At 16 I drove into a bunker, had to lay up with a nine iron and then had to hit two iron from 180 yards. It’s probably best four I’ve made in my life.

“Ironically, this is probably the best position I have been in at an Open given the weather, but you really don’t think about that out there when it’s like this. You just think about trying to make par and trying not to get upset and frustrated.

“I didn’t hit a bad drive at the last but the wind pushed it into the bunker and I ended up with a bogey. After missing chances at 13, where I horse-shoed out, and 17, which was a real birdie chance, it was frustrating not to make par at 18.”