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After making one of the longest putts of the first day, a snaking 40-footer at the last, the only Argentinian in this year’s Open field embarked on a decidedly risky celebration.
First Mateo Pulcini raised his hand in the air. Then he cupped them to his ears to emulate the way his hero, Enzo Fernández, had celebrated after scoring the equaliser against England in Wednesday’s World Cup semi-final.
If anything was going to tempt the 70,000 fans at Royal Birkdale to violate the R&A’s new Open code of conduct, which warns them they will be thrown for bad behaviour, it was this. But there were only cheers not jeers – and even a solitary cry of “Vamos!”
Admittedly Pulcini, a 25-year-old who qualified for the Open after winning January’s Latin America Amateur Championship, did get a few boos when his name was announced on the first tee. But after finishing his round five over par he was all smiles as he praised the crowd’s behaviour. “I love it,” he said. “I really don’t mind. It’s part of the fun. The fans are something spectacular. They were cheering for me as well.”
Asked which felt better, holing a 40ft putt or Fernández’s goal going in, Pulcini chuckled again. “Enzo and Lautaro’s goals, for sure. Today wasn’t the best, so I’ll take those two goals.”
Pulcini also confirmed that he had been treated well by the English players and smiled as he recollected a chat with Matt Wallace before the game. “I told him we were winning 2-1,” he said, smiling. “I need to cross paths with him. I was right.”
However Pulcini, who arrived at Birkdale this week sporting the Argentina flag on his driver’s head cover, cap and shoes, refused to get involved when asked about the team holding up a banner that read: “Las Malvinas son Argentinas.”
“I saw it but I don’t want to talk politics, just golf and football,” Pulcini said. “I wasn’t even going to put football with golf, but then I made a 40-footer so I was excited.”
Before the Open began there had been fears of a repeat of the crowd misbehaviour that greeted the European team at last year’s Ryder Cup and Wyndham Clark at the US Open in Shinnecock Hills in June. But so far Royal Birkdale feels more like a vicarage tea party than Bethpage Black.
One golfer that appreciated the more positive vibes was Robert MacIntyre, who had spent the Ryder Cup enduring taunts including: “Eat another burger Bobby?” and “When you starting Ozempic?”
After shooting three under par in his opening round, MacIntyre said: “The Open crowd is the best every time,” he said. “If you hit a wedge on to 20 feet, there’s applause. When someone’s had a decent shot, there’s applause.
“I didn’t hear one shout off the tee box of ‘get in the hole,’ or all the daft shouts you get. It was very much just golf and people enjoying golf.”
It was certainly not a bearpit. The most contentious thing Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau saw as they played together on Thursday was a man in a homemade T-shirt showing a mug shot of Tiger Woods standing by the fourth tee.
Perhaps the muted reaction was down to English heads being a little sore after the defeat to Argentina the night before. Then again, Thursday at the Open is not when crowds go feral.
However Tom Watson, who is back at Royal Birkdale 43 years on from his fifth and final Open Championship, believes golf needs to be careful as the “awful” behaviour at the Ryder Cup and Shinnecock Hills is not going away. “We have an issue with betting,” he warned. “What really concerns me is that somebody is going to be on a cell phone like this. He’s got a betting app like this. He’s got this guy out here. I’m going to bet that he misses this putt. He clicks his $100 bet and then yells in the guy’s back swing. That’s what concerns me.”
Watson’s solution? To issue an Augusta-style ban on mobile phones, which does feel like overkill given that at Birkdale most spectators were using their phones to take pictures of their heroes. That isn’t unreasonable, especially with tickets costing over £100.
That said, Watson did stress that he believes that the majority of fans still adhere to the game’s traditional values of respect – along with the players.
“The kids see the pros coming off the 18th green, taking their caps off, shaking their hands, whether the guy just beat his brains out or not,” said Watson. “That’s still part of the game. I think that’s a really good image for professional golf to show that.”
And so, thankfully, was the warm reaction of England fans to Pulcini’s joyous celebration at the last too.
