I’m good enough to win but I’m not going around shouting my mouth off that I’m going to win the Open If I’m in with a shout I will take it Normally it’s very windy here It’s most unusual The course relies on the wind It’s summer here and you get some sunny days occasionally. He went out in 32, came home in 33 and had a total of only 23 putts.”You feel a bit of pressure when you are leading the Open,” Broadhurst said. “I’ve played in the Ryder Cup and that’s the most daunting of all. “I’ve had to work hard the last three days to get it back.”Nobody starts an Open Championship by hitting, off the tee, a four-iron, two-iron, two-iron, two-iron and five-iron on the first five holes Broadhurst did.

His chipping and putting was exemplary and it needed to be, for he lost count of the number of times he went through the back of the green.However, he did not need his wedge at the sixth where he hit a five-iron approach from 197 yards to within eight feet of the flag and sank the putt for an eagle three that got him to two under. “It’s so fiery out there it’s not easy to keep the ball on the green,” Broadhurst said His round was extraordinary for a number of reasons. In the third round of the Scottish Open at Carnoustie last week Broadhurst took five putts at the 18th, four of them from about four feet In the final round he shot 80 in a gale “It destroys your swing,” he said. There has hardly been a cloud on the horizon so far and the forecast is for more of the same.There is a huge public bar called the Open Arms to the left of the clubhouse and it was satisfying thirsts about eight hours before the sun slipped over the yard arm.

Broadhurst won the Lytham Trophy eight years ago and went on to receive the silver medal as the leading amateur in the Open at Lytham. That was when it rained so heavily the championship went into a fifth day. Carl Mason, who finished eagle, birdie to survive the final qualifying, also had a memorable round to keep Nick Faldo company on 68. Broadhurst’s best finish in the Open was joint 12th at St Andrews in 1990 when he scored 63 in the third round.He is familiar with the course here.