McKibbin downcast as wind switch proves puzzler at Troon

TROON, SCOTLAND - JULY 18: Tom McKibbin of Northern Ireland tees off on the first hole on day one of The 152nd Open championship at Royal Troon on July 18, 2024 in Troon, Scotland. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)

Tom McKibbin walked away disappointed with his Open debut as he failed to capitalise on a one-under front nine and opened with a two-over 73 at Royal Troon.

Out in the second group of the day, the Holywood star followed a bogey at the second with birdies at the third and short eighth to turn in one-under 35.

But he was disappointed he failed to control his ball downwind on the way home and dropped shots at the 11th, 12th and 16th in a three-over back nine.

“It was tricky,” McKibbin said of his Open debut in an unusual southwest wind that blew into the players on the easier front nine before playing largely downwind on the way home

“I didn't play great at all, really, especially the back nine; it was the harder nine. Just a few shots and a few silly decisions here and there.”

As for the change in wind direction from the practice days, he admitted he was thrown a little.

“It was very, very different than the practice rounds,’ he said. “The wind was in a slightly different direction, so your game plan didn’t go out the window, but you're having to sort of work on a lot more things out on the tee, where you wanted to land the ball and finish it just with the different wind.

“Then guessing the release on the greens was very hard. Downwind, some of the bounces were 15, 20 yards really.”

His round started to get away from him at the 11th, where he pushed his tee shot into the rough and had to lay up, then dropped another shot following another tee shot right at the 12th.

“Yeah, it's tricky,” he said. “I think 11 today was probably the easiest you'll get it, it was down off the left. But then 12 is much more difficult, just straight into the wind, long hole, very tight. You've just sort of got to hang in coming in.

“Especially the par-3s as well, some tight pins with wind that's sort of pushing your ball away from the pin. Overall, I think the course is playing pretty tricky.”

McKibbin was playing alongside Swedish Ryder Cup star Alex Noren, who birdied the last from 19 feet to set the early pace with an impressive 69 and lead by two shots in the clubhouse from Korea’s Young Han Song and the third member of the three-ball, Scottish amateur Calum Scott.

What irked McKibbin was some of his course management, especially the bogey at the par-five 16th, where he opted to drive over the burn but found the left rough.

“Normally you just lay up there,” he said. “It was downwind. (My caddie) Dave (McNeilly) told me he thought it was worth it, and I trusted him and went for it, and it did not pay off. I got it over, but not in a great spot.”

His 73 looked set to improve on the leaderboard as conditions worsened for the later morning starters and he’s hoping to at least match par in round two and make his second major cut from as many starts.

“I scrambled quite nicely the first six or seven holes,” he said. “I wouldn't say I had my best stuff, still hitting some nice shots. A few of the shots, I saved par quite nicely, holed a few nice ones on the front nine.

“Coming in, my pace putting was pretty good. I had a few very long-range putts, and I was sort of able to save putts. So that was pleasing.”

As for first tee nerves, he said: “It wasn't too bad. It didn't really bother me too much. It was fine. I was thinking down off the right, it's just a 4-iron.  

“Got on the tee and realised I have to hit a 2-iron here. That probably made me a bit more nervous.

“Overall, it was fine. I've hit plenty of first tee shots before. I was just trying to make it another one of those.”

Assessing his round overall, he was more pleased with his score than his play going out and disappointed by his lack of control coming home.

As for Noren, he was impressed by the Swede’s control of his ball.

“Yeah, Alex played really nice, just played very smart golf, hit the ball lovely,” McKibbin said. “It just looked like he had complete control of the ball. If he missed a green, he was pretty deadly around the green.

“Obviously I’m a little disappointed with the round. The back nine is the harder nine, but I just didn't feel like I hit the ball great and didn't really have much control over it.

“So just sort of trying to hang in. It's a tricky one because you want to try to make a couple of birdies coming in, but trying to stay patient is quite hard. Yeah, just sort of trying to hang in there.”

As for his ambitions for round two, he said: “It will depend obviously (on the weather), but anything around par, under-par would be nice. Try to get an under-par round in a major.

“Yeah, hopefully better than today. Score-wise, it was okay, a little disappointing, but I didn't feel like I played that good. I feel like I could have played much better.”