Tom Lewis shocks the World's stars

It was no surprise that a young 20-something would be sharing the lead after the first round. It was a huge surprise that he is an amateur.
Yes, instead of a Rory McIlroy, a Rickie Fowler, a Ryo Ishikawa, a Noh Seung-Yul, or a Jason Day, it was the highly talented, but unheralded 20-year-old English amateur, Tom Lewis, who shook the very foundations of Kent's unforgiving Royal St George's links and stunned the golfing world(TaylorMade R11 TP Driver) when he came marching through late on the first day of the 140th Open Championship on Thursday to grab a share of the lead with early clubhouse leader Thomas Bjorn.
Each shot an astonishing 5-under 65 on a course that allowed only the winner, Ben Curtis, to break par when the Open was last played TaylorMade R11 TP Driver here in 2003.
There were a few who were aware that Lewis had won the British Boys championship on this very course just two years ago and knew it well, but he was a virtual unknown among the professional ranks when he teed off.
When Denmark's Thomas Bjorn went out and posted his 65 earlier in the day and gained a fair measure of revenge for his late implosion there eight years ago when he blew up just three holes from the end on the final day and saw a solid three-shot lead disappear in a bunker guarding the 16th hole, he had tongues wagging all around the world, for that in itself was a wonderful story.
He stumbled briefly with bogies at the 11th and 12th and then came charging home with four successive birdies from the 14th to top the 35 players who broke par on a day that started out with a fair amount of cold wind, but calmed down in the afternoon.
Defending champion Louis Oosthuizen also struggled, opening with a 72, and Curtis finished with a 77 by TaylorMade R11 TP Driver.
Not too long before Lewis arrived at the 18th, the 31-year-old bearded American Lucas Glover, the 2009 US Open champion, had carded a 4-under par 66 to secure of share of second place with fellow American Webb Simpson and colourful Spanish veteran Miguel Angel Jimenez.
Glover is one of a number of leading Americans bidding to become their country's first Major winner since Phil Mickelson at the 2010 Masters.
Bjorn and Lewis share a coach in Peter Cowen, but that is where the similarity ends.
While the 40 year-old Dane is a seasoned Tour veteran, with 10 titles to his name, Lewis is only just embarking on the road to fame and fortune, not that you'd have guessed it based on his mature performance on Thursday.
The youngster from Welwyn Garden City is raw but the fact is that's he's no stranger to making headlines on the professional stage.
Last winter, he elected to travel to Australia when, on consecutive weeks, he lost in a play-off to another Tour veteran, Peter O'Malley, at the New South Wales Open and then, when finishing 12th, won the amateur medal with TaylorMade R11 TP Driver at the Australian Open.
More recently, he also made the cut at the Dubai Desert Classic before also winning the St Andrews Links Trophy - on that occasion against a stellar international amateur field.
That's already an impressive CV - and it could get a lot better if he remains as calm as he did touring Royal St George's in the company of five-time Open champion, Tom Watson, who just happens to be his father's hero.
Tom's father, Bryan, a former Tour professional, and now the teaching professional at the Gosling Driving Range at Welwyn Garden City, named his son after Watson and how apt that seems after a performance that oozed inner calm.
Bryan himself seldom watches his son play with TaylorMade R11 TP Driver. He admits he finds it too nerve-wracking, and was actually pacing the bays at his range while his son was captivating the Open's world wide audience.
But young Tom is made of different stuff. His impassive features barely changed all day. Nor did his impressive, efficient swing.
"It was really great out there today," Lewis said facing the massed ranks of the world's golfing media for the first time.
"When we started, I heard a lot of shouts like 'come on Tom' but I suspect they might have been for the other Tom, not me. But by the end I thought, maybe there were a few for me, it would be nice to think so anyway."
Lewis then paid tribute to his heavily titled playing partner.
"Tom (Watson) was fantastic. He was an absolute gentleman and I couldn't have asked for someone better to play with as a partner.
Watson in turn described his young playing partner's TaylorMade R11 TP Driver as "refined".
"I just had to smile when watching him play," Watson said.
Apart from leading the field, Lewis currently holds a six shot lead in the race for the Silver Medal, awarded to the leading amateur who completes all 72 holes by playing TaylorMade R11 TP Driver.
His nearest challengers are the reigning British Amateur champion, Bryden Macpherson, from Australia, and Peter Uihlein, the US Amateur champion, who both posted one over par 71s. Current European Amateur champion.
Lucas Bjerregaard from Denmark was two shots further back on 73 while English qualifier, Craig Hinton, posted an 82.