Friday Q&A with TNT's Billy Kratzert

TNT course reporter Billy Kratzert offers his thoughts on the first round of the 133rd Open Championship, among them the conditions at Royal Troon Golf Club, the somewhat surprising showing of the Americans in the field, and what he thought of Tiger Woods' opening 70. Check back each day during the Championship for another edition of his Q&A.

TROON, Scotland (PGA.com) -- TNT course reporter Billy Kratzert, a former PGA Tour veteran with four victories to his credit, sat down with PGA.com managing editor John L. Byrwa on Friday morning at Royal Troon Golf Club to give his thoughts on what transpired during the first round of the 133rd Open Championship. Check back each day during the Championship for another edition of his Q&A.

PGA.com: What are your general impressions of the first round?

Kratzert: I think the guys who went out in the morning had a little bit of an advantage. The wind never really gusted up to what I think the players anticipated. I think they were relieved somewhat, but when they came in with 71, 72 73, they were really disappointed because of the conditions. Still, 66 is leading the championship ... two players, (Thomas) Levet and (Paul) Casey ... but you have a host of big names at 2 (under) and you've got Vijay Singh at 3. You've got (Ernie) Els at 2, but you've got all these players kind of standing right there. Today looks like a little tougher day; the wind's gonna blow a just little bit more but nothing significant so far.

PGA.com: Fifty-six players, more than a third of the field, shot under par yesterday. Are you surprised nobody went real low, like 63, 64?

Kratzert: Well, Casey certainly had the chance. I watched him early in the round and he missed numerous putts. He missed a great opportunity on No. 5, the par-3, and he missed one before that. He had his chances to really take it deep, but 5-under 66 is deep enough, with the course record being 64 by (Tiger) Woods and (Greg) Norman. But yesterday, if you were going to tag Royal Troon, yesterday was the day to tag it. I mean, that's when you needed to go ahead and put the knock-out punch on it.

PGA.com: Of the 41 U.S. players in the field, Kenny Perry was the lowest at 2-under par, and there were only 11 Americans among the top 40. Are you surprised we didn't see any U.S. players go any lower?

Kratzert: I think that's surprising because I think it's been since, what, somewhere in the 1950's that we haven't had a player in the top 10 after the first round. That is just so rare. But then again I look at the fact that all the top players in the world -- you go down that list -- Woods, Els, Singh, Goosen, David Toms -- Toms had a good chance yesterday but he spit the bit on No. 18 and made a double-bogey, which is easy to do. I mean, (Nick) Faldo made a double-bogey there, Darren Clarke made double there. I don't mean to be that critical, but I do know that the American players, even though they're not in the top 10, they're going to be there in the end. You can't help but think that. The tougher the conditions become, the better off the American players are going to be because I think they're very patient.

PGA.com: Of the top 40 lowest scores, No. 39 was Tiger Woods. What did you see in his game yesterday? Did he not have something in particular working?

Kratzert: I actually thought Tiger played quite well. It's hard to hit a lot of fairways on a links golf course simply because some of the fairways are 22 yards wide, some are 25, you might catch one at 28 or 30. But because they're rolling and ball's kind of bumbling along, you're liable to hit a good drive and wind up in the rough. That's just part of links golf, and he did that a couple of times and maybe hit a couple of shooters that wound up over the green. But I thought all in all, it was a fairly predictable round for Tiger. He drove it on 4, he drove it on 6, he drove it on 7, which I thought he would. On 10, I was a little surprised he hit the iron off the tee. But on 11 I knew he was going to hit 3-wood, keep it in play. On 16, I didn't know if he would try to take over that little burn that crosses the fairway there or not. He hit some good iron shots and outside of the three-putt on No. 7 or maybe one or two other putts, it was a good, solid round. Hey, he's under par and I think there's been maybe one or two times where he's started hot in a major, maybe Pebble Beach (2000 U.S. Open) or at St. Andrews (1999) where he started out with a 67. But, you know, he'll be there in the end. I think the fact that he was patient -- it was a round that he certainly could have gotten more out of and didn't -- but I still think that has to be encouraging. I think the work that he's done on the practice range has certainly paid off and he and Steve Williams were pleased with the round.

PGA.com: Another fan favorite who didn't play as well as he would have liked was Phil Mickelson. Did you get to see a lot of his round and what he did?

Kratzert: I watched on TV what Phil was doing, but I would hate to try and pinpoint any one thing because, you know what, get a a couple of bad bounces out there or put it against one or two of those faces in the bunkers -- being in those bunkers is like being in captivity. You start looking around and wonder, where am I gonna go?

PGA.com: Casey and Levet played wonderfully yesterday. How difficult is it going to be for them to keep playing like that?

Kratzert: I think it's too early to really think about it on their part. Levet, he seems to be a little bit of a loose cannon ... I read a couple of quotes after he won the Scottish Open ... and he lost this tournament in a playoff a couple of years ago, so he's got the experience and he's certainly riding high after winning the Scottish Open. But no one's ever put the double together, the Scottish and the Open. But he'll probably be there at the end of the week. I think Paul Casey, if he doesn't get caught up in the trap of an Englishman winning the Open and how much it means to him ... I listened to him yesterday and he said that you could put the Masters, the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship together and, he said, I don't think it would mean as much as if I win the Open. The emphasis that the English put on the Open and what he's putting on it is quite high. In fact, it's too high in my opinion, because I don't think he would turn down the Masters, the U.S. Open and the PGA.

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