2026 British Open: Eric Cole hit a drive 25 yards at The Open; a day later, he improved by 12 shots

Cole's opening 6-over 76 Thursday at Royal Birkdale included a 25-yard drive where his foot slipped. A day later, Cole shot 64 to book a spot in the weekend at this Open Championship.

Eric Cole was already looking at flights home. The 38-year-old Cole, competing in just his second Open Championship, didn’t necessarily play poorly on Thursday afternoon at Royal Birkdale, but a comedy of errors led to a 6-over 76 that placed Cole ahead of just nine of the 156 players in the field. He mis-clubbed off the eighth tee, burying his ball in the lip of a fairway bunker and eventually carding his first of three double bogeys on the day.

The next came three holes later, when Cole’s drive barely made it off the 11th tee box, his foot slipping and his ball traveling only about 25 yards into the gunch. Unable to find the ball, Cole had to re-tee. “I didn’t fall down, but I was about to fall down,” Cole said.

“I went like this, like an ugly version of Scottie Scheffler’s [swing].” Cole also doubled the par-5 17th, where the fescue shut his clubface, causing Cole to shank his second shot into the trees.

“I know that’s weird to say, but I really did feel like I was hitting the ball where I was aiming and stuff and the swing felt good,” Cole said. “I’m just chalking it up to random outlier.” Cole’s only goal for Friday’s second round, where he’d go off in the first group at 6:35 a.m. local, was to forget about Thursday’s misfortune.

“There’s nobody in front of us. The weather’s great. I was just trying to kind of have a good day and relax and enjoy the Open Championship,” Cole said.

“Then started playing good and tried to keep it going pretty much.” Cole improved by a dozen shots, firing 6-under 64 to not only get back to level par but also ensure his place on the weekend for the second time in as many Open starts. Cole, who was T-31 in his Open debut in 2024, won’t need that Saturday morning direct from Manchester to Orlando, Florida, after all.

He was 6 under through 13 holes, too, before closing with five straight pars. “There’s two par-5s, and I was like, you know, if I could just get those two, then all of a sudden I could go really low,” Cole said, “but that didn’t work out.” Still, as Cole knows from Thursday, things could go a lot worse.