MANILA, Philippines – Justin delos Santos shrugged off a major jitter with a big bounce-back from every mishap, spiking his one-under 71 with a lucky pitch-in eagle on No. 12 as he got into early mix of things in the British Open paced by Cameron Young in Scotland Thursday (Friday, Manila time).
Delos Santos bogeyed the second hole of St. Andrews but quickly regained the stroke with a birdie on No. 4 then rebounded rom another miscue on No. 11 with an eagle-2 on the next before holing out with another birdie following a bogey on the 17th.
The Japan Tour campaigner, who earned a slot in the season’s final major championship with a fourth place finish in the Mizuno Open, thus found himself at joint 35th in a big field of 156. This is well within the projected cut and in the company of golf greats Hidemi Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion, Paul Casey, Louis Oosthuizen, winner here in 2010, and three-time major winner Jordan Spieth.
Though he stood seven strokes behind Young, the 26-year-old Fil-Am, a California Polytechnic State University product, can draw inspiration from his decent start to realize a dream stint in the weekend play of the oldest championship, which offers a total prize pool of $14 million.
Young cashed in on an early start to blitz the course with five birdies at the front before gunning down three more while preserving his bogey-free eight-under 64 card.
He led Rory McIlory by two as the Irishman also flashed top form with a four-birdie binge at the front. He then mixed three more birdies with a lone bogey on No. 13.
The two other young Japan Tour campaigners and former spearheads of Manila Southwoods in various Interclub championships in the Philippines likewise dished out impressive starts with Kim Joo Hyung firing a 69 for joint 13th and Yuto Katsuragawa matching delos Santos’ one-under card in ideal conditions.
Kim and Katsuragawa made it here by placing joint second in the Singapore Open last January.
Kim, the 2020-21 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion and the 2018 Philippine amateur winner, actually headed for an explosive start in the morning wave with four birdies after nine holes and went five-under with another birdie on No. 15.
But he wavered and bogeyed the last two holes and mIssed joining Cameron Smith and Robert Dinwiddie at third with a 32-27.
Katsuragawa, on the other hand, birdied the opening hole then rebounded from back-to-back mishaps from No. 4 with a birdie on the seventh. He birdied No. 12 to go-under again, yielded a stroke on the tough No. 16 but finished with another birdie.
But the troika's grit and poise will be tested in the second round with the world's elite expected to crank up their respective games in a mad dash to the weekend play, including Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, Tommy Fleetwood, Collin Morikawa, Shane Lowry, Justin Thomas and Adam Scott, who all shot 72s, and Brooks Koepka, Billy Horschel, JT Poston, Will Zalatoris, Tony Finau, Max Homa, Jon Rahm and Harold Varner III, who carded identical 73s.