If anything was going to tempt any of the 70,000 fans here to violate the R&A\u2019s new Open code of conduct, which warns them they will be thrown for bad behaviour<\/a>, it was this. But there were only cheers not jeers \u2013 and even a solitary cry of\u00a0\u201cVamos.\u201d<\/p>\n Admittedly, Pulcini, a 25-year-old who qualified for the Open by winning January\u2019s 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\u2019s behaviour.<\/p>\n \u201cI love it,\u201d he said. \u201cI really don\u2019t mind. It\u2019s part of the fun. The fans are something spectacular. They were cheering for me as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked which felt better, holing a 40ft putt or Fern\u00e1ndez\u2019s goal going in, Pulcini chuckled again. \u201cEnzo and Lautaro\u2019s goals, for sure. Today wasn\u2019t the best, so I\u2019ll take those two goals.\u201d<\/p>\n Pulcini said he had been treated well by English players and smiled as he recollected a chat with Matt Wallace before the game. \u201cI told him we were winning 2-1,\u201d he said. \u201cI need to cross paths with him. I was right.\u201d<\/p>\n Pulcini, who arrived at Birkdale sporting the Argentina<\/a> flag on his driver\u2019s head cover, cap and shoes, refused to get involved when asked\u00a0about the team holding up a banner that read: \u201cLas Malvinas son Argentinas\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw it, but I don\u2019t want to talk politics, just golf and football,\u201d he said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t even going to put football with golf, but then I made a 40-footer so I was excited.\u201d<\/p>\n There had been fears of a repeat of the crowd misbehaviour that greeted the European team at last\u00a0year\u2019s Ryder Cup<\/a> and Wyndham Clark at the US Open <\/a>in Shinnecock Hills last month. But so far Royal Birkdale feels more like a vicarage tea party than Bethpage\u00a0Black.<\/p>\n One player appreciating the more positive vibes was Robert MacIntyre, who had spent the Ryder Cup enduring taunts including: \u201cEat another burger, Bobby?\u201d and \u201cWhen you starting\u00a0Ozempic?\u201d<\/p>\n After shooting three under in his opening round, he said: \u201cThe Open crowd is the best every time. If you hit a wedge on to 20 feet, there\u2019s\u00a0applause. When someone\u2019s\u00a0had a decent shot, there\u2019s applause.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t hear one shout off the tee box of \u2018get in the hole\u2019 or all the daft shouts you get. It was very much just golf and people enjoying\u00a0golf.\u201d<\/p>\n It was certainly not a bearpit. The most contentious thing Scottie Scheffler, the defending champion, and his fellow American Bryson DeChambeau saw as they played together on Thursday was a man standing by the fourth tee in a homemade T-shirt showing a mug shot of Tiger Woods.<\/p>\n
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