Newsday (N.Y.): Bjorn, amateur tied for British Open lead

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

SANDWICH, England -- They were separated by seven hours and many pages of history, but after a tumultuous first round of the 140th British Open, Thomas Bjorn, age 40, and Tom Lewis, age 20, were together at the top of the scoreboard.

Bjorn, the Dane with all the baggage, finished about noon British Summer Time yesterday, with his superb 5-under par 65 at Royal St. George's. Lewis, the English amateur with all the promise, sank his final putt for the same score around 7:30 p.m.

If a novel were to be created about Day 1 of the oldest tournament in the world, a proper title, with apologies to Charles Dickens, might be "Great Unexpectations."

Bjorn, remembered mostly for taking three shots out of the sand on the 70th hole and taking himself out of the lead the last time the Open was held here in 2003, came into the tournament in a funk. His five European Tour events prior to the Open showed three missed cuts, a withdrawal and an 81 in the final round of the French Open.

Lewis parents were such fans of Tom Watson that they named their son after him.

Lewis, 20, was paired with Watson Thursday along with Henrik Stenson. Lewis won the British boys amateur at St. George's two years ago but never had played in an Open.

Bjorn and Lewis were a shot ahead of Lucas Glover, who won the  2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, the Spaniard Miguel Angel  Jimenez and Webb  Simpson, a one-time Wake Forest star.

Rory McIlroy, in his first  tournament since the 22-year-old Northern Irishman set records winning the U.S. Open last month at Congressional, came in with a 1-over par 71 and is tied for  53rd.

"On a day like this," said McIlroy, who played early  when the wind was gusting, "you could have shot a high number and put yourself  out of the golf tournament."

Very much in the mix is the American Dustin Johnson who was 4-over par through 14 holes. "If you would have bet [against] me being 1-under standing on the 18th tee, I would taken it," he said.

Johnson birdied 14, birdied 15, had a hole-in-one at 16 and birdied 17, going 5-under in four holes. A bogey at 18 gave him an even-par 70.

That was the same score as Phil Mickelson. Louis Oosthuizen, who won the Open last year at St. Andrews, shot 72.

Bjorn only got into the Open on Monday when Vijay Singh withdrew. "There's a lot coming back here after what happened eight years ago," he  admitted. "I just wanted to go out and knuckle down. I've always promised myself  I'll keep going and going."

This time he had a birdie 2 on the 163-yard 16th, three strokes better than the last time he played it, in '03.

Asked what his father, Ole, who died in May, would have thought about the round, Bjorn choked up and wiped tears from his eyes.

Lewis is going to be a pro, like his father, Bryan, who briefly played the European Tour. Tom left school at 16 to hone his game, backed by the R&A, the governing organization of British golf. He is from the same town north of
London, Welwyn Garden City, as Nick Faldo.

"I played well today, got a lot of cheers," said Lewis. "At first it was for Watson, but toward the end I was playing so well they were cheering for me . . . I was just happy to be here, but to shoot 65 the first round was something I wouldn't have thought."