Even with that round, Scott leads a star studded top-10 by only one stroke over Zach Johnson, Nicholas Colsaerts and Paule Lawrie; then then three strokes back are Ernie Els, Tiger Woods, Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy and Bubba Watson.
Brandt Snedeker is alone in fifth at 4-under, and then come eight players who got around in 3-under on Thursday, including former Open Championship winners Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, 2012 Masters champion Bubba Watson and U.S. Open champions Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell.
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| image: Getty images |
Paul Lawrie, the 1999 British Open champion, and Zach Johnson, the 2007 Masters Champion, both shot 5-under 65 to tie for second place after the first round. Rory McIlroy, Ernie Els, Bubba Watson and Graeme McDowell all mirrored Woods' opening day score.
Woods looked solid coming in as the Vegas favorite to win the British Open. The 31-year-old Australian put on a birdie clinic at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. Scott sank eight birdies en route to post a 6-under 64 and take the clubhouse lead. Scott has been close to winning a major before. He tied for second place at the 2011 Masters and tied for third at the 2006 PGA Championship. His biggest PGA Tour win came in 2004 when Scott won the 2004 Players Championship.
Everything started clicking for Scott when he birdied the 4th hole to erase a bogey on the 3rd.
The cut at the British Open includes the top 70 players and ties, and the projected cut line for the 2012 British Open is currently 1-over, where 41 players sit, tied for 54th.
SCORES:
Adam Scott 32-32—64 -6
Paul Lawrie 32-33—65 -5
Zach Johnson 32-33—65 -5
Nicolas Colsaerts 31-34—65 -5
Brandt Snedeker 32-34—66 -4
Ernie Els 33-34—67 -3
Bubba Watson 31-36—67 -3
Graeme McDowell 31-36—67 -3
Tiger Woods 30-37—67 -3
Toshinori Muto 31-36—67 -3
Rory McIlroy 32-35—67 -3
Steve Stricker 32-35—67 -3
Peter Hanson 32-35—67 -3
Jamie Donaldson 35-33—68 -2
James Morrison 33-35—68 -2
Thomas Aiken 31-37—68 -2
Scott Pinckney 33-35—68 -2
Anders Hansen 34-34—68 -2
Jbe Kruger 31-37—68 -2
Anirban Lahiri 33-35—68 -2
Justin Hicks 33-35—68 -2
Matthew Baldwin 33-36—69 -1
Adilson Da Silva 37-32—69 -1
Thongchai Jaidee 34-35—69 -1
Matt Kuchar 35-34—69 -1
Charl Schwartzel 34-35—69 -1
Thorbjorn Olesen 33-36—69 -1
Bob Estes 34-35—69 -1
Brendan Jones 34-35—69 -1
Steven Alker 35-34—69 -1
Lee Slattery 32-37—69 -1
Richard Sterne 33-36—69 -1
Francesco Molinari 33-36—69 -1
Fredrik Jacobson 34-35—69 -1
Marc Leishman 34-35—69 -1
Ted Potter Jr. 35-34—69 -1
Jeev Milkha Singh 32-38—70 E
Simon Khan 34-36—70 E
Kyle Stanley 35-35—70 E
Rafael Cabrera-Bello 36-34—70 E
Vijay Singh 36-34—70 E
Thomas Bjorn 36-34—70 E
Jason Dufner 32-38—70 E
Martin Laird 35-35—70 E
Troy Matteson 33-37—70 E
Aaron Townsend 34-36—70 E
K.J. Choi 35-35—70 E
Hunter Mahan 36-34—70 E
John Senden 33-37—70 E
Padraig Harrington 35-35—70 E
Luke Donald 33-37—70 E
Retief Goosen 35-35—70 E
Andres Romero 34-36—70 E
Garth Mulroy 36-35—71 +1
Mark Calcavecchia 37-34—71 +1
Greg Chalmers 36-35—71 +1
Miguel Angel Jimenez 36-35—71 +1
Bill Haas 37-34—71 +1
Davis Love III 37-34—71 +1
Nick Watney 35-36—71 +1
Ian Poulter 34-37—71 +1
Yoshinori Fujimoto 34-37—71 +1
Tom Watson 35-36—71 +1
Aaron Baddeley 35-36—71 +1
Warren Bennett 34-37—71 +1
Dale Whitnell 36-35—71 +1
Juvic Pagunsan 34-37—71 +1
Greg Owen 34-37—71 +1
Marcus Fraser 34-37—71 +1
Carl Pettersson 34-37—71 +1
Harris English 34-37—71 +1
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano 33-38—71 +1
Angel Cabrera 33-38—71 +1
Bo Van Pelt 33-38—71 +1
Keegan Bradley 33-38—71 +1
Rickie Fowler 36-35—71 +1
Alexander Noren 35-36—71 +1
Richie Ramsay 32-39—71 +1
Ashley Hall 40-31—71 +1
Todd Hamilton 36-36—72 +2
John Daly 38-34—72 +2
Raphael Jacquelin 37-35—72 +2
Stewart Cink 36-36—72 +2
Sergio Garcia 36-36—72 +2
Steven Tiley 36-36—72 +2
Lucas Glover 35-37—72 +2
Charles Howell III 33-39—72 +2
Paul Casey 31-41—72 +2
Mark Wilson 34-38—72 +2
Simon Dyson 35-37—72 +2
Ross Fisher 35-37—72 +2
Sang-moon Bae 36-36—72 +2
Louis Oosthuizen 34-38—72 +2
Geoff Ogilvy 36-36—72 +2
Toru Taniguchi 35-37—72 +2
Jim Furyk 33-39—72 +2
Koumei Oda 35-37—72 +2
Troy Kelly 35-37-72 +2
Barry Lane 37-36—73 +3
Rafael Echenique 36-37—73 +3
Chad Campbell 36-37—73 +3
Johnson Wagner 36-37—73 +3
Lee Westwood 33-40—73 +3
Dustin Johnson 33-40—73 +3
Kevin Na 36-37—73 +3
Daniel Chopra 34-39—73 +3
Joost Luiten 36-37—73 +3
Nicholas Cullen 36-37—73 +3
Tom Lehman 33-40—73 +3
Pablo Larrazabal 35-38—73 +3
Gregory Havret 36-37—73 +3
Gary Woodland 35-38—73 +3
Branden Grace 35-38—73 +3
Phil Mickelson 37-36—73 +3
Sandy Lyle 37-37—74 +4
Alejandro Canizares 41-33—74 +4
David Duval 35-39—74 +4
Stephen Ames 38-36—74 +4
Y.E. Yang 36-38—74 +4
Justin Rose 39-35—74 +4
Ryo Ishikawa 34-40—74 +4
Steven O'Hara 36-38—74 +4
Michael Thompson 35-39—74 +4
Marcel Siem 34-40—74 +4
George Coetzee 33-41—74 +4
Chez Reavie 35-39—74 +4
Trevor Immelman 37-37—74 +4
Richard Finch 38-36—74 +4
Jonathan Byrd 36-38—74 +4
Alvaro Quiros 36-38—74 +4
a-Manuel Trappel 37-37—74 +4
Andrew Georgiou 36-38—74 +4
Morten Orum Madsen 36-38—74 +4
John Huh 38-37—75 +5
Justin Leonard 39-36—75 +5
a-Alan Dunbar 35-40—75 +5
Brad Kennedy 39-36—75 +5
Paul Broadhurst 36-39—75 +5
K.T. Kim 35-40—75 +5
Ben Curtis 37-38—75 +5
Robert Allenby 35-40—75 +5
Prayad Marksaeng 37-38—75 +5
James Driscoll 43-33—76 +6
Tim Clark 38-38—76 +6
Darren Clarke 37-39—76 +6
Hiroyuki Fujita 38-38—76 +6
Sam Walker 38-38—76 +6
Elliot Saltman 37-39—76 +6
Ian Keenan 36-40—76 +6
Tadahiro Takayama 37-40—77 +7
Kodai Ichihara 39-38—77 +7
Martin Kaymer 38-39—77 +7
Mardan Mamat 39-38—77 +7
Grant Veenstra 37-40—77 +7
Robert Rock 38-40—78 +8
Michael Hoey 38-41—79 +9
Russ Cochran WD
