Ames facing cut at British Open

LYTHAM ST ANNES— Not for the first time this season, T&T’s Stephen Ames has found himself facing the cut after the opening round of a tournament. The 48-year-old Canada-based golfer struggled to a four-over 74 to finish the first round of the British Open Championship, 115th on the leaderboard, yesterday. With the cut set at one-over, Ames will have a big challenge in the second round today in order to hang around for the weekend rounds at Royal Lytham and St Annes. “I just didn’t hit it very well. I was very inconsistent. The driver was weak again,” said Ames. “I had some opportunities and missed a lot of good putts, caught the lips and they didn’t go in, unfortunately. Overall, considering I had a seven in my round, I actually shot only one-over.”

 

 

 

The seven was a triple bogey on the 492-yard par-4 sixth which marred his run on the front nine. He had previously bogeyed the par-four third in what had been a quiet start. While he found the fairway, he skewed his second shot and was left to find his way out of the dense rough. “It was an okay drive down the middle, right,” Ames said of his woes on the sixth. “Second shot we waited 10 minutes to play. Then I hit it left, horrible lie, one of those chip-out kind of lies.” Making the turn at four-over, he picked up a shot on the 10th but then dropped another shot 14th. Ames was joined below the cut line by three-time Masters champion American Phil Mickelson and World number three Lee Westwood of England who both shot 73s. Australian Adam Scott holds the clubhouse lead after shooting a six-under 64, one stroke ahead of 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson of the US. (AP)