Golf | British Open: Zach Johnson off to fast start

Associated Press Thursday July 18, 2013 8:59 AM

Matt Dunham | Associated Press

Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain was among the early groups to tee off at Muirfield and finished with a 3-under-par 68.

GULLANE, Scotland -- Zach Johnson quickly shook off that defeat from last weekend.

Johnson seized the early lead at the British Open today, shooting a 5-under-par 31 on the front side only four days after losing the John Deere Classic in a playoff.

Among those already in the clubhouse, Spain's Rafael Cabrera-Bello posted a 4-under 67, countryman Miguel Angel Jimenez got off to a blistering start on the way to 68 and 2004 Open champion Todd Hamilton put up a surprising 69 -- his lowest round in the tournament since that improbable victory nine years ago.

"This game is a lot about confidence," said Hamilton, who now plays on a minor-league tour in the United State. "I didn't really know what to expect. I hit a couple of drives early with the driver and made a few putts and that kind of settled me down, and I didn't try to do a lot of stuff that I didn't feel comfortable doing."

Johnson didn't arrive at Muirfield until Monday morning after playing in the John Deere, where he made bogey on the 72nd hole and wound up losing in a three-man playoff. Nineteen-year-old Jordan Spieth captured the title on the fifth extra hole, becoming the youngest winner on the PGA Tour since 1931.

If Johnson was still kicking himself over that result, it didn't show. The 2007 Masters champion made an eagle at the par-5 fifth, then birdied the next two holes to take the top spot on the board.

The tournament began with the sun poking through big, puffy clouds along the Scottish coast. The forecast hardly seemed fitting for a British Open: mostly sunny with temperatures climbing into the mid-70s.

There was a bit of a breeze at the course off the Firth of Forth - the wind is always the main line of defense for a links course - but not enough to be much of a problem.

"If the wind stays like it is, it's really not too difficult," Hamilton said. "If you can take advantage of the par-5s and throw some other birdies in, and stay away from the high numbers, I think somebody is going to shoot a good score."

Then there was Lloyd Saltman, a 27-year-old Scotsman who competes on the European Tour.

Playing in the first group of the day with Peter Senior and Oliver Fisher, Saltman sent his opening tee shot into a compound of hospitality tents far right of the fairway. He immediately reached for another ball, teed it up again, and knocked another one out of bounds. Finally, with his third attempt and taking what was officially his fifth shot of the hole, he got one in the fairway. He wound up taking a quadruple-bogey 8 and finished with a 79.

Saltman wasn't the only one who had trouble at No. 1. Promising young American Brooks Koepka also opened with an 8. Bud Cauley and Chris Wood both walked away with 7s.

Source: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/sports/2013/07/18/0718-british-open-round-one.html

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