By Sepp Straka’s math, two out of three equals 64 and a share of the lead at the Scottish Open.
Straka polished off a round of 6-under-par to finish the first round at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick in a four-way tie atop the leaderboard on Thursday.
“My iron play was pretty good,” said Straka. “Driver not so much but the chipping was really nice, and I also made a lot of putts. Any time those two are working, the scores usually are going to be pretty good.”
The 64 was Straka’s personal-best on the course and tied the Austrian with Victor Perez (France), Nico Echavarria (Colombia) and American Jake Knapp, who has one career win on the PGA Tour (2024, Mexico Open).
A big hitter off the tee, Knapp’s bogey-free round was his first competitive tournament round on the course. He posted six birdies and made an improbable 35-foot birdie at the par-4 4th. Knapp was first in strokes gained off the tee at the time his round wrapped up, shooting 32 on the front and back nines.
“It’s huge. Downwind holes, try to take advantage of my length and obviously try to keep it out of all the bunkers out there for the most part,” Knapp said. “That’s been our main focus. I’ve been driving it well over the last month. Drove it well in Detroit, so trying to keep that trend going. Just use my length when I can.”
Germany’s Marcel Siem and Matti Schmid shot 65, along with Scotland’s Calum Hill and England’s Marco Penge, one shot behind the leaders.
“That was really good fun. It’s nice to come in here, probably the biggest event of the year for Scottish people, and have a good start. It’s great,” Hill said.
At 4-under are Viktor Hovland (Norway), Ryan Fox (New Zealand), Americans Wyndham Clark and Keith Mitchell and Tom Kim (Korea).
Straka birdied four of his first seven holes, shot 31 on his opening nine and was at 7-under with four holes to go Thursday. He gave back two shots taking bogey at the par-3 6th and par-4 7th, then recovered with a birdie at No. 8.
“The wind picked up around the turn, and yeah, when I got the ball in play, my iron play was pretty good and took advantage of it,” Straka said. “But a lot of squirrely drives as well. A few up-and-downs saved me. Yeah, it was a nice way to finish.”
Echavarria birdied three consecutive holes — 14 through 16 — and accomplished his top priority of keeping his ball out of the bunker off the tee.
“It’s key to hit the fairways because from the rough the ball doesn’t have any spin and it could roll on the greens, bounce really hard,” he said. “I was able to do that and give myself looks and I was able to convert.”
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, the winner in 2023 who finished fourth last year, was 2-under and in a massive logjam with a group that includes Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre, Xander Schauffele, Nicolai Højgaard, Collin Morikawa and Daniel Berger.
Perez, coming off of a top-20 at the U.S. Open, played in the later wave Thursday, closing with seven birdies and four on his final five holes.
U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun was at even par and tied for 68th. Spaun had birdies at 16 and 17 after shooting a 2-over 37 on the front nine.
–Field Level Media
