Gary Woodland watches his shot on the second hole during the third round at the PGA Championship golf tournament on the Ocean Course, Saturday, May 22, 2021, in Kiawah Island, S.C.
Former Kansas golf standout Gary Woodland opened play at the 2022 Open Championship, also known as The British Open, with a 2-over-par 74 at the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland on Thursday.
Woodland’s round left him in a tie for 96th place entering Round 2.
The opening round actually could have been much worse for Woodland, who carded birdies on two of his final five holes to improve from 4-over to 2-over by the end of his round.
He finished the day with three birdies and five bogeys, including a stretch of three consecutive bogeys on holes Nos. 11, 12 and 13.
Woodland, whose length and ability to bomb drives has been a strength throughout his career, finished the par-5s on Thursday at 1-under par and the par-3s at 2-over par.
He’ll look to make a move up the leaderboard in Round 2 beginning at 2:03 a.m. central time on Friday. The top 70 players and ties in the 156-man field will make the cut to stick around for the weekend.
A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.
