Deja Vu All Over Again?

Things are shaping up pretty much as expected at the Open.  The usual suspects are placing themselves in a position to at least not lose it, if not necessarily to win, which is all you can do on day one.

Dustin Johnson has clearly shaken off, as well as anyone might, the disappointment of Chambers Bay. He drove the ball wonderfully, causing Andy North to suggest that he was "the straightest long driver I've ever seen."  That's definitely saying something, as Andy had obviously seen Jack play.  I was impressed the way DJ kept it together today after missing a very makeable birdie putt on one, where Spieth made his.  I must admit, my first thought was, here we go again.  It appears it didn't bother DJ.  He was awesome today.  The real test will be how he putts coming down the stretch on Sunday if he's in a position to win again.

It was interesting to watch Jordan Spieth do exactly what he needed to do.  He was pretty much dead solid perfect on the front, going out in five under, despite having to hit three irons, where DJ was hitting seven.  He pretty much kept DJ and the leaders clearly in sight, despite a bit of a shaky back nine.  At two shots back, barring a disaster, he's surely going to be in with a chance come Sunday.  You can bet, when the day began, that was all he hoped for.  

Tiger looked like Tiger, a golfer now firmly placed just inside the top two hundred and fifty in the world.  He managed to stop the early bleeding, but never looked like the Tiger Woods of old as he hit only ten greens, the worst in the field so far, and carded his highest round ever at the Old Course.  I found it amusing to hear Zinger refer to Tiger as a "mental giant."  I'm not sure whether it was just before, or just after Tiger hit his second shot into Swilcan Burn, the one place you simply can't miss it on the first hole.  By the fifth hole Tiger had gone from being a mental giant to being "discombobulated," in Zinger's estimation.

I liked Zinger's observation: "Everyone wanted to swing like Tiger Woods, except Tiger Woods."  Absolutely true.  But, apparently Tiger, being a "mental giant," knew, and still apparently knows something we don't. 

It appears we may have many of the same guys fighting for the jug come Sunday that were after it at Chambers Bay. Not really surprising, I suppose; if any course will encourage the cream to rise, it will be the Old Course.  So far, so good.