The Open Championship 2014 is live on ESPN Radio with stream coverage online Thursday and Friday for Round 1 and 2 and things in Merseyside are heating up, as Rory McIlroy is leading the tournament and Tiger Woods has started off well in the top 10 at the British Open golf major and this comes as Phil Mickelson is trying to win for the second straight year.
McIlroy is looking to keep his hot start going and he had the lead at six under as some players finished off in the afternoon and this is keeping in line with his year so far. McIlroy has been starting off fast at a number of tournaments this year, shooting under 70 multiple times, but his biggest issue has been keeping it up, as he has faltered late a number of times as well. Woods comes out of the first round in the top 10 and that is a solid start for him after dealing with his injury and surgery.
Woods wanted to get off to a good start and after two bogeys to open his day, it looked like disaster, but with great weather behind him and the sun shining, Woods rallied and ended up three under coming out of Thursday. Woods said he felt good coming into the tournament and he has won before after being injured ahead of a major and now he is hoping to do that again. Woods would be wise to take things slow and try and stay in contention into the weekend, as he has shown in the past he can win at Royal Liverpool.
Phil Mickelson played in the Scottish Open with McIlroy last week and he won that last year before taking the Claret Jug and he is hoping to make it two in a row here. Mick opened up in the afternoon session and he was one over heading into his final hole. McIlroy did not have any bogeys on the day and he now has the challenge of trying to keep all of this up, while Sergio Garcia and Rickie Fowler also started off well. Adam Scott was in the top 10 with tied at eight at three under through 15 and now McIlroy has everyone chasing him at Liverpool in Merseyside.
McIlroy is used to having fast starts, as he had opened up a number of times under 70, including last weekend when he set a course record with a 64. What's tough for him is that he has not won any of the events that he has done that in the opening round and he needs to clean things up. He is 55 under par in those rounds this year, but he is 15 over in the second and that is another reason why he needs to clean up into Friday.
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