He started with two birdies on the first three holes, but then followed that up with five straight penalties, including a triple bogey. “I thought I could get it out and I got stuck,” he confessed exclusively to La Tercera.
The 151st edition of The Open has started in the worst way for Joaquín Niemann. The Chilean finished the first 18 holes of the tournament with a record of seven strokes over par and rated 140 among the competitors. Figures that suggest that it will be impossible to see him on weekends.
Situation which would live for the second time of the season within a major. Already in the PGA Championship he was kicked out of the cup and now in Liverpool he has every chance to repeat the situation. He’ll need a big comeback if he wants to come back up, because right now half the board is scoring two shots over par.
That’s why the sensations are not the best. Just minutes after hitting the par on the 18th hole, the Talaganto man was hand in hand with Sebastián Varela, special envoy of La Tercera at the tournament, delivering the analysis of a complex day in Merseyside.
He talked about the bunkers, with which he came across three of the flags that faced penalties and a possible return on Friday. “I hope I can have a good day and do little… today I started well, but then there was a hole that cost me dearly. he said succinctly of his chances of making the cut.
“It’s classic here, every time you’re in the bunker you try to take it out and hit a fine, but where I was I thought I could take it out and I got stuck “, he analyzed in relation to the pitfalls so frequent on the British courts.
Specifically, Niemann had consecutive bogeys between the eighth hole and the twelfth flag, by far the worst stretch of the day. Even at this part of the course, he came in at two under par and ended up going out with five strokes on the demanding course. The triple bogey at 10 was his greatest moment of collapse, where he fell into the bunker after a shot from the fairway.
On the other hand, the only bright spot of the day came in the opening holes, with birdies at flags one and three. A section where the illusion was installed, but did not reappear on the Royal Liverpool Golf Club.
A South American as leader
The upper part of the table has a Latin presence and it is that at the end of the first round of the tournament, the Argentinian Emiliano Grillo shares the lead with the South African Christo Lamprecht and the Englishman Tommy Fleetwood. All three ended up with a -5 balance.
Golfers with different stories but with the same objective: to win their first major. In the case of the African, his position is the most surprising as he is not even a professional. He appeared at this Open as one of the five amateurs invited to the tournament. Fleetwood, for his part, appears to be the local illusion, as he would be the first Englishman to be champion of the British Open since Nick Faldo achieved it in 1992. He already knows what it is to fight for a great, but he still cannot rejoice: in 2019, he finished second in this same championship.
Grillo, meanwhile, is having his dream season. 2023 gave him PGA titles, big performances at the majors and the place to become the top Latino in the world rankings. In fact, he arrived at this event fighting for it with Niemann, since only two positions separate them (“Joaco” is 43 years old and the Transandin 41). The distances cleared on Thursday suggest that order will be maintained at least until the next course.
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Source: Latercera
I am David Jack and I have been working in the news industry for over 10 years. As an experienced journalist, I specialize in covering sports news with a focus on golf. My articles have been published by some of the most respected publications in the world including The New York Times and Sports Illustrated.
