On Stormy Day, Ballesteros Has 67 to Lead by 2

LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England — It was a dark and stormy day.

Suddenly, a shot rang out. It was Nick Faldo, the defending British Open champion, knocking a ball into a bunker for the second time on the same wind-blown, rain-splattered 17th hole.

Wind. Rain. Cold. This too shall pass, right?

“Ask him up there,” Faldo said later, pointing at the ceiling. “It might be hailing tomorrow. This might be the best day of the week.”

After one round of the British Open, the best day of the week, at least so far, belongs to Spaniard Seve Ballesteros.

Ballesteros, who parked one drive in a parking lot when he won the British Open in 1979, planted two more beneath bushes on the same Royal Lytham & St. Annes course Thursday.

So what happened?

Ballesteros beat the bushes and came up with a four-under-par round of 67 to finish a gray, windy and occasionally wet first day at the 117th Open with a two-stroke lead over American Brad Faxon and Australian Wayne Grady.

Opening day was either generally miserble or typical British Open weather, depending on your point of view.

The way Curtis Strange saw it, after shooting a 79, it was the same as many others.

“It seemed to destroy what little confidence you’ve got left,” he said.

Confidence all around was seemingly at low ebb, especially playing into the 35-m.p.h. gusts on the back nine, where Faxon and fellow American Fred Couples were the only players to break par.

And on the rolling, bunker-laden links course, only 7 players in the field of 153 broke par 71. Just two were Americans.

Don Pooley shot a 70 to join three others a stroke behind Faxon and Grady, and said that even though Ballesteros played remarkably well, it probably will be a warm day in July before the British Open is decided after one round.

This, of course, is impossible.

“There’s too much golf left to start picking the winner right now . . . but he’d be a good pick,” Pooley said.

Ballesteros lost two strokes because of unplayable lies after his drives at Nos. 14 and 18 rolled beneath bushes, so his score might have been even better. But he said he had no chance at getting a swing either time.

“I don’t think even Daniel Boone could play from there,” Ballesteros said.

Daniel Boone?

“He was my hero,” Ballesteros said.

Meanwhile, because of the wind, the heroes of golf were reduced to playing wiffle ball.

Three-time British Open winner Jack Nicklaus had a 75 and said he played pretty darn well considering he woke up sick at 3 a.m.

“At 6:30, I was lying on the bathroom floor wondering if I would come to the golf course or not,” he said.

Nicklaus said he hit the hole seven times with putts and each one lipped out. Putting was also a problem for five-time winner Tom Watson, who had a 74. Everything was trouble for U.S. Open champion Strange, who shot a 43 on the back nine to finish eight over par. Raymond Floyd had a 76, Tom Kite a 75 and Mark Calcavecchia a 76.

Two 52-year-old former winners, New Zealand’s Bob Charles and South Africa’s Gary Player, did better than their younger, big-name counterparts. Charles shot a 71 and Player a 72.

The European tour players didn’t do much better than the Americans.

Faldo staggered home with two bogeys and a double bogey over the last five holes and dropped from a share of the lead to a 71. Masters champion Sandy Lyle was in at 73, Ian Woosnam at 76 and Bernhard Langer and Mark McNulty at 73.

It was up to three other European tour players to carry the load. South African Nick Price and Australians Noel Ratcliffe and Peter Senior turned in rounds of 70, as did Pooley, who is playing in his first British Open.

Pooley had the inconsistent type of round that was consistent with many. He had five birdies, three bogeys, one double bogey and, like Ballesteros, lost two strokes because of unplayable lies.

The truth was, however, that Ballesteros got off to such a quick start that he was impossible to catch. He birdied the first three holes, rolling in 2-footers on the par-3 first hole and the 437-yard, par-4 second hole.

He got another on No. 3, then added two more birdies on Nos. 6 and 7 to make the turn in 30. On No. 8, Ballesteros missed a 4-footer that would have given him another birdie, but he said he felt good about his putting, anyway.

“I was very confident the first two holes when I was holing out from two feet,” he joked. “But I feel like I played just about as good as I can the first 13 holes.”

Royal Lytham is set up so that the first nine holes are all going out and the last nine come back toward the clubhouse, as well as the Irish Sea and the prevailing gusty winds. The strategy players use on this course is to pick up as many strokes as possible on the front nine and then, as Strange said, “stagger home with something reasonable.”

Ballesteros was all right until the 14th, when he tried to reach the green with his second shot, a 2-iron, but instead sent the ball to the left beneath a bush, where he was unable to play it. Ballesteros took a penalty drop 50 yards back at about 125 yards and hit a 7-iron within 15 feet, from where he made the putt for a bogey 5.

“I was very lucky to get away with a bogey there,” Ballesteros said.

He found another bush with his drive at No. 18 and, after a second penalty drop, took another bogey.

“The back side is very difficult, and I make a few mistakes,” Ballesteros said. “I expected it.”

The element of surprise might have belonged to Faxon, 26, who hasn’t won in five years on the PGA Tour. Faxon, who like Ratcliffe had to qualify, was not bothered by the weather. “In fact, I’m thrilled to be here,” Faxon said.

He admitted he was also chilled. Because of the wind, he chose a wider putting stance and decided to hit between gusts.

“But this is what the British Open is all about: Wind, bad weather, a little bit of rain, sweaters, rain gear and turtlenecks,” Faxon said. “It tests your head a little bit.”

The long par-4s at Nos. 14, 15 and 17 played more like par-5s because of the wind. The 445-yard 14th was the only hole that was not birdied in the first round.

Price said the wind was the only thing more remarkable than Ballesteros’ score.

“It was relentless,” he said. “It’s so difficult to get the ball to the hole, it doesn’t matter whether you’re going with it or against it. Anything around par today is a good score. The score that Seve shot was incredible.”