Faxon's love affair is turning him on

13 April 2012

Brad Faxon, the 39-year-old Ryder Cup player from Rhode Island, shot a three-under-par 68 today to hold second place in the clubhouse, three shots behind Colin Montgomerie in The Open at Royal Lytham.

Faxon set the early pace despite finding bunkers three times, and confessed that his love affair with this course and others nearby simply does not go away.

"I love playing here, I love links golf, I love the people, the appreciation everybody over here has for the game. It turned me on," he said afterwards.

Faxon was out early before the grey skies had broken a fraction and the breeze had eased. But he summed up his problems with bunkers when he said: "You can challenge the golf course as much as you want but there is always a pot bunker where you want to be.

"You have to decide whether you want to be short of it, whether you want to take a club that goes past it, or equal to it. I don't think there is a player out there that is exempt from that choice."

Faxon hit bunkers on the seventh hole with his second shot, with his tee shot on the par-three ninth, and then with his tee shot on the 18th. But each time the American played out without difficulty - in contrast to countryman Fred Couples, who took four shots, including one played left-handed, to escape from a bunker on the 14th.

Faxon said of the bunker on the 18th, where he dropped a shot: "I was right in the middle at the back of the bunker. I hit a nine iron out of there. I don't think I could have reached the green. The most I could have hit was an eight iron."

Sweden's Thomas Bjorn, who tied for second place last year, shot a first round 76 today. He said: "I was awake most of the night with flu symptoms, I didn't get much sleep at all.

"I just felt I had no energy and I had problems all day controlling the ball going left. It just wanted to go right. It was very disappointing having got off to a good start."

A birdie on the second had Bjorn one under par but he took six on the next after finding the deep rough - and one of the 197 bunkers.

Another birdie on the sixth repaired some of the damage before an eight on the par-five seventh, where he found deep rough off the tee and his second shot failed to even move the ball.

His third shifted it only six feet and his fourth was hacked sideways across the fairway into more rough. It took two more shots to reach the edge of the green and two putts all added up to an ugly eight.

"The seventh was just a total disaster," he said. "But I have no excuse. If I can make a good score tomorrow then maybe I have a chance of getting into the weekend."

Ernie Els, another strong contender, came home with 71 and said: "The shot at the last should have gone in. I was trying to get two birdies out of the last two holes and kind of managed it.

"It is not all that hard, though. The conditions are fine but it is not very warm. The wind is not blustering, so the scoring is there. If you are hitting the ball solidly enough, you can score around here.

"I was really very rusty, especially round the green. So to get back to level par is not bad."

On the back condition which threatened his participation this week he added: "I had a lot of good treatment and am a lot better."

Bernhard Langer had also been doubtful after pulling out of the Scottish Open last Saturday, but he also shot 71.

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