Early start suits Herbert down to a tee but mixed bag for other Aussies at British Open

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Royal Liverpool: Lucas Herbert is delighted to get his British Open challenge under way early on Thursday in the third group of the day, when the coastal weather systems can be at their most benign and the greens are almost untouched by human foot.

“Perfect, nice and early,” was the Orlando-based Victorian’s reaction to the 6.57am (UK time) start he shares with New Zealand’s Ryan Fox and Byeong Hun An of South Korea. Herbert played an early evening round on Tuesday, with only his caddie and support team for company as he readied himself for a fourth crack at the Open, with last year’s tied 15th his best finish so far.

Cameron Smith begins his title defence almost three hours later in a marquee group that features US Open champion Wyndham Clark and Xander Schauffele, one of the best players in the field yet to win a major. They will start at 9.58am, immediately behind another grouping of note featuring Adam Scott, world No.1 Scottie Scheffler and local hope Tommy Fleetwood, the world No.21.

Even more thrilled than Herbert was the Australasia order of merit winner David Micheluzzi, playing only his second major after getting a late invite to the US PGA Championship in May and fresh from banking one of his biggest cheques after finishing tied 17th at eight under in the recent European tour event in Denmark.

“The Open’s one of a kind, the greatest, the best championship in the world, and I get to play one of them so I’m stoked,” he said. “A year ago I didn’t think I’d be in this position, but here I am.”

The 26-year-old Victorian has been practising at Hoylake for almost a week, has played in varying conditions, and was delighted to find he had been grouped with the 2015 Open champion Zach Johnson and England’s Matt Wallace, starting at 1.15pm.

Lucas Herbert, Cameron Green and Jason Day.Credit: Getty

“Oh cool, that’s brilliant,” he said after moving on from the chipping green. “What a golf course, you’ve got to ball-strike, that’s the biggest key.”

Min Woo Lee, playing his third Open and coming off his best finish of tied 21 last year, will tee off a little earlier in company with the Asia-Pacific Amateur champion Harrison Crowe, who he also partnered at this year’s US Masters at Augusta.

“It’s quite amusing to play another major with him, it makes it a lot more comfortable having a mate here,” Crowe, 21, said. “It’s a pretty nice spot in the draw, too, it’s not too early on the Friday [7.41am] either and it’s not a four o’clock tee time.”

Crowe admits his game has been a major beneficiary of COVID restrictions in Sydney and said he had managed to get tournament-ready in part due to the five-kilometre rule which prevented him going to the range at his club, St Michael’s at Little Bay.

“All I could do was go to my local course [Bardwell Valley] that I grew up at and there’s not really any practice facilities, it’s a par 62,” he said. “I was just playing heaps of golf, heaps of holes, learning how to score again. I will try to revert back to that, playing a lot of good golf.”

Haydn Barron of Western Australia, 27, who qualified with a tied fourth at the Australian Open after COVID interrupted his nascent pro career, is out at 10.42am. Travis Smyth earned his place with a third in brutal weather at the World City Championship in Hong Kong. He goes at 12.20pm, while Scotland-born Connor McKinney, 21, who moved to Perth at the age of 12, earned his place in final qualifying at Dundonald but still got the short straw with a 3.43pm tee-off, four groups from the end.

The resurgent Jason Day is out at 9.03am with Matt Fitzpatrick, the 2022 US Open champion, and Jordan Spieth, a three-time a major winner. The Australian is a former world No.1 who started the year at No.112 but has risen to No.27 after lifting the AT&T Byron Nelson trophy in May – his first PGA Tour win in more than five years. His best finish in the Open was fourth in 2015, his annus mirabilis, when he won five times in total, including the US PGA Championship. What he wouldn’t give for something similar this week.

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