Lucas Glover Tied for Third at Open Championship
The rebirth of Lucas Glover seems to be in full bloom after a back-nine 31 propelled him into a tie for third, one shot back of Thomas Bjorn and amateur Tom Lewis in the opening round of the Open Championship at Royal St. George's.
A win at Quail Hollow earlier this year got Glover back into the winner's circle after a nearly two-year drought. Now, at least through one round, he is America's best hope in the year's third major.
Historically, Glover's Open Championship record is spotty at best. In five previous appearances, Glover, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour, has finished no better that 27th and that was in 2007 at Carnoustie.
Glover's 66 is only his second round in the 60s at the Open Championship. He shot an opening-round 67 at St. Andrews last year.
"It's been up and down," said Glover of his links record. "I played okay at Carnoustie. I played okay first round last year and then dwindled would out. You learn how to play over here and adapt and start figuring it out."
Glover's next challenge is to put two consistent rounds together, something he has never done in an Open Championship.
"I can always use '09 U.S. Open and PGA in the back of my head whenever I get there in any tournament, not just majors," Glover said of his current position on the leaderboard. "I do have that to fall on, but I've still got to hit the shots and still got to execute. But if we get down to the back nine Sunday and I'm where I want to be, I can fall back on the fact that I have executed and done the right things under that pressure."
Stuart Hall is editor of the Golf Press Association.
