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British Open: Welsh journeyman Stuart Manley is among early leaders

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Stuart Manley, playing in his first major championship, shot 68 to climb the leaderboard.
SOUTHPORT, England — The weather that greeted the start of the 146th British Open wasn’ t out of the ordinary — heavy rain, strong winds and biting temperatures.
What wasn’ t common place was the name at the top of the leaderboard as the early starters wrapped up their rounds — Stuart Manley.
Playing in his first major championship, the 38-year-old Welshman and 1,000-to-1 shot in the betting parlors this week shot 2-under-par 68 to get to the top of the famous yellow scoreboards at Royal Birkdale.
Ian Poulter shot 67 among the early groups and took the lead.
Manley is ranked No. 520 in the world and is a winner of just one professional tournament – the 2013 Finnish Challenge on the European Challenge Tour. He had missed his last five cuts before the Open. But none of that mattered as he finished in a manly manner by making eagle on the 17th and birdie on the 18th.
“I didn’t really dream I’d be sitting here and being the leader after round one, ” said Manley, who qualified for the Open by finishing in a tie for second in the Joburg Open in South Africa in February. “I didn’t think about it. I just thought and try and post a decent score, give myself tomorrow for making the cut and have a good weekend.”
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Manley’s day actually started at 3 a.m. when his 6-month-old son woke up. Manley got to the course just past 5 a.m. and teed off in heavy rain at 6: 46 a.m. local time.
“Very nervous on the tee. But luckily I made contact and went forward, ” he said. “I stayed inbounds, so that was nice. But made bogey. And after that I kind of settled my round a little bit, pretty steady. And played quite nicely and obviously finished it off in a nice fashion.”
Manley said he didn’ t take many risks on this seaside links, the high winds dictating much of his strategy. He didn’ t warm up very well and his aim was just to plot his way around the course and try to make par on every hole. Instead he birdied the sixth hole – the toughest hole on the course – and then wiped out his other bogey of the day on the 14th with his eagle-birdie finish.
He said he didn’ t have time to soak in seeing his name at the top of the leaderboard because of his late heroics.
“I don’t think it’s sunk in, ” he said. “I think I’ve got quite a bit of a crowd of family and friends waiting for me, so I think it will sink in. Right now I’m tired. Kind of just want some food. I just want to get back and chill out, you know.”
The journeyman said he won’ t start dreaming about winning the Open just yet. Like his career, he takes one day, one week, one month at a time and accepts the end result of his work. There have been tough times during his journey, but the passion to play golf professionally has never wavered.
“I’ve improved I think every year. I still feel like every year I’m making gains. Sometimes you question yourself when you’ve got a couple of poor years. And then people ask you, do you think you should continue?” he said. “But since I’ve met Neil Matthews, my new coach, I’ve really felt like my golf game is getting better and better. I still love the travel. I love everything about it.
“I’m lucky, my appetite for the game is still there. I want to learn and improve, and keep playing until 60 perhaps.”

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