'I'm not giving up,' says Ogilvy

GEOFF Ogilvy was refusing to give up on his British Open dream despite falling eight shots off the pace after the first round.

GEOFF Ogilvy was refusing to give up on his British Open dream despite falling eight shots off Adam Scott's hot pace after the first round at Royal Lytham and St Annes.

Australia's only major winner in the past 17 years, Ogilvy has missed the past five Open cuts and once again left himself with an uphill battle to secure a weekend tee time after opening with a two-over-par 72.

"It's a long tournament, so the guy who wins this tournament might be able to shoot a 72 and I've just had it in the first round," Ogilvy said.

"Hopefully I can get back in it in the next couple of days."
 
With his lofty ball flight, Ogilvy has traditionally struggled to produce his best on British links courses, though he did manage an equal fifth at St Andrews in 2005 and another top-20 finish the following year at Royal Liverpool.

He wasn't overly disappointed with his first-round score, more rueful that a few more putts didn't drop.

"I didn't really play that bad," he said.

"I had a pretty ugly double on the third hole. I drove into the hay and then couldn't get it out of the hay and made a six.

"I also had a few short birdie putts on the front nine and didn't make any and that was kind of frustrating.

"I had a few birdies on the back and got it back to even and had a couple of late bogeys, which was a bit of a shame."

Ogilvy played in the afternoon and was looking forward to his second round tee off tonight.

"They had a pretty fun time of it this morning, it looks like,'' he said after Scott posted a course record-equalling 64 in the opening round.

"It was probably slightly easier this morning, but not crazily so, so hopefully we get a similar day tomorrow where we get a little bit of a chance in the morning and then it gets a bit more difficult in the afternoon and it balances out.

"Then see what we can do."
 
Apart from Scott, Brendan Jones, who closed out his round superbly with birdies on 17 and 18, and Marc Leishman were the only other Australians in red figures after posting one-under 69s.

Newcastle's Aaron Townsend made an impressive Open debut, carding a steady even-par 70, a score matched by in-form John Senden.

Aaron Baddeley, Greg Chalmers, Marcus Fraser and major rookie Ashley Hall - with five birdies on a magical back nine - all returned one-over 71s.

Spare a thought for Nick Cullen, the 25-year-old who was enjoying a fine debut until racking up a dreaded triple-bogey on the 18th for a three-over 73.

Brad Kennedy (75) and Robert Allenby (75) also had big ground to make up to secure a weekend tee time.