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Here’s Ewan Murray’s report. That’s all for today – thanks for reading!
As we await Ewan Murray’s report of day one, just a quick mention of Lucas Glover and Tom Kim both shooting 69s. That’s 19 players to have broken 70 today.
Fitzpatrick in five-way tie for Open lead as Scheffler and McIlroy lurk Harris English two-putts the 18th to finish in a five-way tie for the lead. The American shares top spot with England’s Matt Fitzpatrick, China’s Haotong Li, Dane Jacob Skov Olesen and South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout after all posted rounds of 4-under 67.
The four players one back at 3-under include World No.1 Scottie Scheffler and England’s Tyrrell Hatton.
And after falling apart here on day one six years ago, Rory McIlroy is in the hunt, just three in arrears after a 1-under 70.
A thoroughly absorbing and entertaining day and with none of the final few groups threatening the lead, we’ll wave you goodbye. Here’s the closing leaderboard after round one at Royal Portrush:
-4: JS Olesen, Li, Fitzpatrick, Bezuidenhout, English
-3: Jordan, Scheffler, Kaewkanjana, Hatton
The first group out today took exactly five hours. Rory’s three-ball took five hours and 52 minutes. They were waiting nearly three or four minutes on every hole according to the chief marshal walking with the Rory group. It’s been a long day!
Let’s guide Harris English to the clubhouse before we close this blog down for the night. He’s found the fairway at 18 and his approach is a safe one to the back, right edge of the green: a 45 feet away kinda thing. A two-putt is odds-on. Tony Finau is one of his playing partners and Big Tone, pretty quiet of late it has to be said, is 1-under and all set to complete another excellent day on the links of Royal Portrush. Finau was solo third here in 2019.
Harris English watches his shot from the 18th tee. Photograph: Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images Harris English remains in a five-way tie for the lead after a birdie at 17. Here is your leaderboard update live from Royal Portrush.
-4: JS Olesen (F), Li (F), Fitzpatrick (F), Bezuidenhout (F), English (17)
-3: Jordan (F), Scheffler (F), Kaewkanjana (F), Hatton (F)
Rory gives his birdie try from downtown a fantastic run at the hole but it just won’t turn enough from the right despite him giving it a lean and a jiggle. No bother, that’s stone dead and he taps in for a 1-under 70. Absolutely nothing wrong with that at all. Because of the wayward driving it might be marked as a B- but three back from the lead after day one and a morning tee-time to come is a highly promising position to be in. Sorry to hark back again but he was 13 shots off the pace after the opening lap in 2019.
We’ve had 16 rounds in the 60s today. Can Rory make it 17? A birdie would do it and, from an upslope in the lighest of rough, his approach to the last finds the front of the putting surface. A birdie looks unlikely from there – it’s nearly 45 feet away – but you never know with McIlroy. Rory raises his putter and soaks in the adulation as he strides up to the green. Very different emotions to 2019 when he just wanted to get the hell out of there after a 79.
Rory McIlroy: he’s a great watch, isn’t he. The Masters champ has missed 11 of 13 fairways today but the latest wonky one is not only repaired but rolled in glitter as he birdies from 12 feet at 17. From looking as if he could slip five, six or even more behind the lead, the local hero is just three back. His drive at the last is technically a missed fairway again but it ends in very light rough and he’d have taken that off the tee.
So what happened to those thunderstorm threats? Only a cameo from the rain today. Ian McCaskill will be looking down with a wry smile. But there are full-on beams from those around the 17th green as McIlroy takes an aggressive line with his approach and sees his ball arcade around a slope and settle 12 feet away.
Up at 18, Robert MacIntyre completes a challenging and battling even par 72 but it’s computer says no for Bryson DeChambeau. Like Magnus Pike’s arms, the Scientist was all over the place in a 7-over 78. Best in show is the elder statesman of the group. It’s a masterclass from Justin Rose today as he scribbles 16 pars and two birdies on his card to shoot 69. No bogeys under testing Open conditions at Royal Portrush. Take a bow.
McIlroy’s hit-the-fairway count is now a miserable 2-from-13 after he sprays another one wide at 17. This needs sorting. Harry Houdini never won an Open and Rory can’t keep wriggling himself loose from errant drives.
Gum-chewing Harris English finds the green in two at the par-4 15th but commentator Ken Brown describes it as a “high tarrif two-putt”. The first strike runs eight feet past the hole but he makes it to stay in a five-way share of the lead on -4.
Scottish amateur Cameron Adam very nearly makes an ace at the par-3 13th. The left hander won this year’s St Andrews Links Trophy on the Old Course and has the course record at Royal Dornoch. He knocks his ball under the wind to the front of the green and it runs up to kick-in range. That will get him to +1. Meanwhile, after missing the green at the par-3 16th, Rory McIlroy chips close and secures his par. He remains level for the round.
A bogey for Ludvig Aberg at the 16th to slip to +2. The hole is otherwise known as Calamity Corner, but it’s not all bad for the Swede who was today revealed as the winner of a poll to discover golf’s most handsome man. Norway’s Viktor Hovland was second.
We’re back to a five-way tie for the lead. A couple of players have dipped their toe in the waters of -5 today before quickly returning to the popular beach called -4. English frolicked for two holes there but at 15 he finds rough, misses an eight footer for par and has to accept a bogey. But no dropped shot for Rory at 15. It looks likely when his chip back onto the green leaves him 11 feet for par but McIlroy exudes confidence with putter in hand these days and he rolls it in.
Maybe McIlroy hasn’t been helped by the rather underwhelming performances of playing partners Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Thomas. They’re now a collective 3-over: McIlroy Evs, Thomas +1 and Fleetwood +2. Thomas has sprinkled a few birdies at least but there’s just a single red number on Fleetwood’s card so far and his approach to 15 has too much juice and trickles down a bank at the back of the green. Rory’s wedge also tumbles off the putting surface to the right. Much work to do to save par from there.
Robert MacIntryre’s round is becoming a collage of loose drives, swearing and get-out-of-jail par putts. A 10-foot par save at 15 keeps him at evens. There’s just a hint of a smile as he knocks that in and, perhaps bouyed, he then drills an iron to 13 feet at the par-3 16th. Like McIlroy, his mood at close of play could still swing either way.
McIlroy is letting this round slip now. He’s in a bunker off the tee at 14 and can only chip out. A good approach and a putt can still bring par but he hits a wayward third that misses the green right and has to scramble a bogey. That’s three shots gone in four holes and a leaderboard tumble from -3 to evens. Hardly a crisis but here’s a stat: evey Open winner this century was no worse than five off the lead after 18 holes. McIlroy will want to stay within that boundary.
Nick Gibson emails: “I was part of the score team that scored every European PGA Event … a family team and it was wonderful … no electronics and scores taken as they came in on the course and posted on boards almost Michael Fish style … happy days.”
We miss those days Nick. Glad you were having fun.
Meanwhile, Joe McNally has come up with the ideal event for golfing monk Sadom Kaewkanjana to contest – “The Zen Masters”.
Very good!
The clock ticks to 7.35pm at Royal Portrush and we have a new solo leader. The man in question is Harris English, who takes advantage of the par-5 12th where Rory just took six swipes.
-5: English (12)
-4: JS Olesen (F), Li (F), Fitzpatrick (F), Bezuidenhout (F)
-3: Jordan (F), Scheffler (F), Kaewkanjana (F), Hatton (14), Glover (11)
Spills and thrills for McIlroy at 13. He hits a towering iron at the 203-yard par 3 that finds the middle of the green. Except that it decides not to stop and bounds away down a slope. But from there, he executes a beautiful chip that looks destined to go in before coquettishly turning away when its eyes meet the hole. A tap-in par keeps him at -1.
More Sadom Kaewkanjana revelations from Matt Cooper, who has delved into his back story. The Thai has played one previous Open and was tied 11th at St Andrews in 2022 thanks to a closing 65. Who knew? And at the end of May he won the Korean Open on a course called ‘The Dunes’. Suddenly his score today of -3, one off the lead, seems oh so obvious!
Oof! Rory makes bogey on the easiest hole on the course. It can be traced back to another loose drive which finds sand. From there, he chips out, hits an approach that bounces to the back of the green and then three-putts from 70 feet. A missed seven-footer condemns him to a ‘6’ when surely he would have thinking ‘4’. That’s back-to-back bogeys and after the ladders of earlier a pair of snakes have seen him slither back down to -1.
Rory McIlroy misses a short putt for par on the 12th green. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian Sky Sports did a fun challenge on the range earlier in the week when both Hojgaard twins, Nicolai and Rasmus, hit a shot and missed the green in exactly … exactly … the same spot. Beyond that and their mum presumably dressing them in the same clothes as toddlers, they’re also set to shoot identical scores today. Nicolai, out in the first group of the day, fired a 2-under 69 and Rasmus has just birdied 17 to join his bruv on -2.
Bryson DeChambeau still appears baffled by links golf and is currently +3 after 12. His expression after another loose shot brings to mind this great Ken Brown quote. “He looks like a St Bernard on a Merry-go-round – doesn’t quite know what’s going on.”
An unlikely exchange here between the press and Sadom Kaewkanjana after the Thai signed for an excellent 3-under 68 that has him just one shot off the lead.
Q: “You’re obviously an ordained Monk, perhaps a historic performance really given your background. Does it make you proud of what you’ve achieved, having also taken on those extra responsibilities in life?”
Sadom Kaewkanjana: “Yeah, it’s my responsibility in Thailand, so I think it’s a new experience being a Monk. They help like more concentrate on the golf course or outside the golf course. It’s made me a lot of focus. Forget everything outside, just live in the present. So I really enjoy being a Monk.”
And I quite like the final back and forth. A kind of reverse Scottie Scheffler. There’s more to life than being a monk when you can tee it up at Augusta!
Q. “You’re only 27, but a career beyond golf, would you then look to dedicate yourself to Buddhism?”
Sadom Kaewkanjana: “My goal is like I want to play in the Masters my whole life. I want to play one time. So to get in the world ranking into the top 50, that’s my goal.”
Rory … [eats chip] … pays for his poor drive at 11 … [takes a bite out of the steak and ale pie] … and misses … [another chip] … from eight feet for par … [bit more pie] … so falls back to -2. It’s his first bogey … [pie a bit soggy?] … since the 1st.
Rory McIlroy plays his second shot out of rough on the 11th. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian Just to note, I’ll be writing these next few updates while eating a steak and ale pie. With chips. It was a tenner from the press canteen and I’ve brought it back to my desk. Thankyou for your continued patience at this busy time.
Rory is facing two pivotal and contrasting holes. The long par-4 11th is the hardest hole on the course today but get through that unschathed and he’ll take on the easiest: the par-5 12th where we’ve seen eagles today. Robert MacIntyre is waiting to tee off on 12 as we speak.
The scoreboard looks pretty good for McIlroy but, if there’s time and light, you fancy he may be heading to the range later today. Yep, another drive goes left and this is one of the ugliest tee-shots he’s hit in a long while, the ball ducking into the rough and almost hitting Sky reporter Wayne Riley.
Some quotes from 2019 Royal Portrush hero, Shane Lowry, following his 1-under 70 earlier today.
Yeah, it was hard. I watched a bit of golf early this morning, and I could see how even firm the golf course had gotten in the last day. Yeah, I’ve played a lot of golf around the country, as you said, the last few weeks and the weather’s been perfect, then you go today.
I think I adapted pretty well. I think I played very well today. I was really happy with my day. Probably one or two shots, but any time you shoot 1-under par around Portrush in those conditions, I think is decent.
I’m happy. I’ve fought with this round of golf in my head for a few weeks now. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. The 1st tee shot wasn’t that easy. I wasn’t feeling very comfortable there. I felt like I managed to handle myself very well.
All day I felt like I handled myself really well. Crowds were amazing. Everything about this tournament has just been great. I tried to kind of use that as motivation instead of sometimes you can put a bit too much pressure on yourself. I tried to use it in a different way today, and I felt like I did a good job with that.
Rory McIlroy is just one shot off the lead in the 153rd Open at his old stomping ground of Royal Portrush! Yes, the Masters champion, who shot a disastrous opening 79 here six years ago before missing the cut, picks up another shot thanks to a gain at 10. From rough, he hits his approach to eight feet and nails the putt. A mighty roar from the gallery. I was about to add that Bob MacIntyre is really leaking oil now but instead of a third straight bogey the battling Scot strokes in a 15-foot par putt at 11. A clenched fist follows.
Bob MacIntyre plays his second shot on the 11th from the right hand rough. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian A couple of other emails before I bring you more good news for Rory…
Richard Wood: “That’s an extraordinary story about Christiaan Bezuidenhout. I usually just enjoy the golf and don’t favour anyone (unless it’s the Ryder Cup of course). Now, I’m totally in Christiaan’s corner. In fact, he gets the full White Stripes treatment. “Oh, Christiaan Bezuidenhout…”.
Joe Pearson: “Consider me a cynical old man, but Lucas Glover (and Adam Scott) sure seem to get awfully close to violating the ‘no anchoring’ rule. Frankly, I think everyone who uses a long putter is suspect. Yells at clouds.”
Ben Orr writes: “Just got this from Tomasz Schafernaker as he reacts to not making your list of weather forecasters.” Hard to break into that top four, Ben. Carol Kirkwood fans have also been in touch. I can’t please everyone.
It’s all got a bit sticky for Robert MacIntyre and two missed fairways lead to bogeys at 9 and 10. A pair of unwanted 5s for the Scot and he’s back to -1. Did I say there’s now a six-way tie for the lead at -4? The latest to join the fun is Lucas Glover, one of two major winners in that leading half-dozen. The other is Matt Fitzpatrick.