Day one report, analysis and more
First round leaderboard
That’s all from us today. Robert Dinwiddie has made a late move up the leaderboard and into a tie for third place with Cameron Smith.
We’ll leave you with the overnight standings, which make very pleasant reading for the leader, Cameron Young, and Rory McIlroy. Thanks for reading and join us again on Friday morning.
-8: Young (F)
-6: McIlroy (F)
-5: Smith (F), Dinwiddie (F)
-4: Brown (F), Kitayama (F), Westwood (F), Kennedy (F), Hovland (F), Gooch (F), D Johnson (F), Scheffler (F)
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Rahm puffs out his cheeks and does a mock break-putter-over-knee action as he misses his birdie putt. That’s a 1-over 73.
Spieth safely knocks his short birdie into the hole and a 1-under 71 is some sort of platform although 33 players are currently ahead of him.
Jon Rahm went way long and left with his drive at 18 and gets (free) relief from some concrete steps.
The Spaniard drops his ball and almost does a little tumble as the long day takes its toll. He finally pulls the trigger and hits a low-running chip to about eight feet.
Spieth, from the Valley of Sin, knocks his first putt to about three feet although he can be jittery with those.
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Jon Rahm (+1) and Jordan Spieth (Evs) will try and sugar rather disappointing days with birdies at 18 although neither find the green on the driveable par-four closer.
Back at 17, Patrick Cantlay (-1) does a good job with his lengthy first putt and should make par.
Six hours and 18 minutes after he teed off, Tiger holes out for a 6-over 78. A round that started with his opening tee-shot finding a divot from which he hit his second into the Swilcan Burn. That double bogey beginning got worse from there and 78 is his joint-worst round in an Open. Still, he raises his cap to the still appreciative galleries and tomorrow is another day.
Playing partner Matt Fitzpatrick signs for a 72 in his first round in a major since winning the US Open last month.
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Padraig Harrington birdies the last for a 69. Well played sir. A round of great craft and guile. It puts him tied for 13th.
Back on the 18th tee, Tiger nails one and for a very brief moment his ball appears to be heading straight for the flag to give us one of the greatest moments in Open history.
Instead, the ball remembers it’s not Tiger’s day, runs out of speed and does a U-turn off the slope and back into the fairway.
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Max Homa finds himself in an impossible position in the Road Hole bunker and needs two swipes to get out. Si Woo Kim was in a similar position earlier and did this.
If at first you don't succeed...#The150thOpen pic.twitter.com/5HssXaR9Zk
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 14, 2022
If Spieth is frustrated, Jon Rahm has steam coming out of his ears. His putt from 15 feet at 16 pulls up just short and left and the Spaniard launches into a full driver swing with his putter. Rahm remains at +1.
Spieth’s birdie putt at 16 threatens the hole but just trickles left so the American, who started with a 65 when he won at Royal Birkdale in 2017, remains at -1.
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A frustrated groan from Jordan Spieth as his wedge to 16 doesn’t receive help from the wind as instructed and trickles away to a tier below the flag. This is a round that could still either drift away or end up quite promising. He’s at -1 and in a tie for 34th.
Masters champion Scottie Scheffler speaks to the press after his impressive 4-under 68, currently good enough for tied fourth. He’s asked what was the hardest part of the afternoon.
I think trying to figure out where the ball was going to roll out to.
No, seriously, it was just so firm out there, and the wind was blowing. It was just playing tough. It’s tough to get the ball close to the hole.
There’s a few holes where I don’t know if it’s possible to even hit the fairway, like if you’re going to take the bunkers out of play, you can’t hit the fairway. So we’re kind of just trying to manage our way around the golf course and play into certain spots.
I’m just trying to keep myself in position, avoid the bunkers, and just stay in position, really. That’s all I’m trying to do.
Tiger’s misery continues as he misses an eight-foot par putt at 16. He looks to the heavens before taking in the reality that his score is now +6.
Talking of former Open champions, 1989 Troon winner Mark Calcavecchia is now propping up the table on +11, a shot worse than 2001 Lytham hero David Duval. Great champions in their day but this has been a tough old afternoon.
Oh Padraig! Harrington was a voice of reason in the build-up, saying scores wouldn’t be as low as many were suggesting. The two-time Open champ also talked about his own strategy and it’s been working well for most of the day.
But a tiddler drifts by on the right at 16 and the bogey drops him back to two under. Still a good chance to post something in the 60s though and it’s worth noting that he’s the only Open champion this century to shoot over 72 in round one but still go on to claim the Claret Jug. That was at Royal Birkdale in 2008 when he opened with a 74.
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What separated Cameron Young from everyone else today? Answer: his iron play.
Smith hit all 18 greens in regulation for the first time in his career and, not surprisingly, ranks 1st in Strokes Gained: Approach. He’s also 25th in SG: Putting and 1st for SG: Around The Green.
Those are the stats from datagolf, whose model, sorry to say, gives Tiger just a 6.4% chance of making the cut. Woods could only par 15 although he’s in decent position off the tee at 16 after taking a line more down the third fairway than the one he’s supposed to be aiming at.
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Jordan Spieth putts up the hill for eagle at 14 but leaves himself five feet for birdie. He misses it left, tossing his putter into the air and catching it after a full 360.
Spieth remains at -1 but will still have his eye on another birdie or two over the final four holes. The wind has died down completely now as the shadows lengthen over St Andrews.
Tiger does indeed tap in for birdie at 14 and then, showing good stamina (he teed off well over five hours ago), hits a lovely soft fade into the fairway at 15.
Let’s see, play these last four in two under to finish at +3 and then go low on Friday. The cut projection is around even par/-1 so it’s not impossible. As I write this, Tiger floats an iron to the 15th and he’ll have about 25 feet for birdie.
19.58pm BST leaderboard
Still the same top three but some movement in behind...
-8: Young (F)
-6: McIlroy (F)
-5: Smith (F)
-4: Brown (F), Kitayama (F), Westwood (F), Kennedy (F), Hovland (F), Gooch (F), D Johnson (F), Scheffler (F), Theegala (13), Dinwiddie (11)
“Slice”, shouts Jon Rahm as he finally gets to drive on the par-five 14th after a lengthy wait on the tree. His ball hasn’t done a lot of listening today but this time it seems to obey and he’ll hope to set up a good eagle chance from there. He needs to put his foot down a bit after playing the first 13 holes in even par.
Up on the green, Tiger has a 75-foot putt for eagle from the very edge of the green. He sends the ball on its way up and over a hill and it’s beautifully judged. Birdie incoming, although it’s one that will take him to +5.
And we have another player at four under, Ireland’s Ronan Mullarney. The 27-year-old is a former R&A Foundation scholar and knows the course well: “I’ve played at St Andrews a number of times in the past including in The R&A Student Series and the St Andrews Links Trophy. There’s no excuses for not knowing the place!” That local knowledge is serving him well so far.
Here’s another fact: Mullarney has only played 10 holes! Blimey, the pace is slow. Sky commentator Andrew Coltart, who knows St Andrews well, reckons there is about two hours of daylight left.
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Some of the later starters are making inroads on what has been a fairly static leaderboard for the last few hours.
Two-time major winner Dustin Johnson birdies the last for a 68, Scottie Scheffler matches him with a par and Sahith Theegala joins them on -4 after a birdie at 12. Theegala has been something of a cult star on the PGA Tour this season, his easy-going nature and attacking golf almost taking him to wins at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and the Travelers Championship. He’s also been labelled a ‘kingmaker’. When Theegala slipped up in Phoenix, it allowed Scheffler to finally gain his first win, sparking a streak that took the Texan to world No 1. Similarly, Theegala’s double bogey at the final hole in last month’s Travelers Championship let in Schauffele to score his first individual PGA Tour win since 2019 and that’s also been the catalyst for a burst of victories.
Scottie Scheffler takes iron at 18 and gives it the big lean after blocking his tee shot out right. For a split second, he’s concerned it’s flirting with the out of bounds fence but his ball lands, straightens out and rolls safely enough short and right of the green. He pitches across the putting surface to about 18 feet. He’ll have that to shoot 67.
Ten birdies so far on the Road Hole and Scottie Scheffler has a 25-footer to try and make it 11. Not to be but the world No 1 should knock that in for par and then he’ll head to the par-five 18th with a golden chance to turn his current score of -4 to -5 and join Cam Smith in third.
A three-putt from Tiger at 13 and that’s another shot gone. A wry smile as his par effort from 15 feet stays left. Woods now +6 and in a tie for 148th.
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Thanks Matt. Plenty of spectators still out there although they’re not getting as much bang for their buck as they did this morning.
With all the double greens and adjacent fairways, play can grind to a halt at times. Rounds are now taking over six hours! Not great.
Xander Schauffele spoke about it after finishing his 3-under 69 and that was before the hanging around really kicked in. “I was not expecting to wait on pretty much every hole on the back nine. I thought we handled those holes fairly well, considering the long wait there. But yeah, I guess when it’s firm and the ball’s rolling out to 400 yards, everyone’s going to wait.”
Back on the 12th, great touch from Spieth. His chip from near the gorse runs close and he converts the birdie to get back to two under for the day. Playing partner Jon Rahm three putts from off the green and remains one under. He’s cutting a frustrated and irritable figure. With that, I’ll hand over to Dave and see you all tomorrow.
19.01pm BST leaderboard
Can Scottie Scheffler break the grip of the top three? No. He dribbles a 15 foot birdie attempt short of the hole at the 16th. He remains four under.
-8: Young (F)
-6: McIlroy (F)
-5: Smith (F)
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More gorse trouble for Jordan Spieth. It’s the third time in four holes, but this latest is, like the first, unlikely to be as damaging as the middle example. This time his drive at the 12th bounces through the green and threatens to join the green spikes and branches, but instead pops back out. A tricky chip to come, but a birdie is the prize if he gets it up and down.
A horribly forlorn moment for Sergio Garcia. His approach to the 17th flies through the green. His next shot, a putt, crosses the footpath, ascends the grassy slope, doesn’t quite get to the top, then dribbles back past him. Incredibly, he has no major championship top 10 finish since he won the Masters in 2017. He makes a triple bogey seven, is four over par, and has little hope of breaking that terrible run soon.
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Here’s a bit of a mad stat. Since 1939 there have been 15 winners of an Open on the Old Course and every single one of them was within three blows of the lead after 18 holes. Good news for the top trio and extra reason for Scottie Scheffler, now the only man out on the course at four under or better, to sneak another birdie or two.
Bogey for Spieth. No escape for him at the 10th and he slips back to one under. Nor can he get his tee shot at the par-three 11th close. A tough stretch for him.
An American move on the leaderboard. Dustin Johnson and Scottie Scheffler both circle a birdie number at the par-five 14th to get to four under for the day. Meanwhile, TV’s Rich Beem reports that the wind is picking up.
In actual fact, the 10th tests Jordan Spieth’s fortitude. He opts not to play the shot, which was probably impossible right-handed, and take a penalty drop instead. Unless he holes from around 30 feet he’s going to lose a shot to the card.
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Interesting! Spieth’s tee shot at the 10th hurtles towards a bush and finishes on top of it. The next shot will call for all his creativity and skill. A fresh air shot or complete mis-hit looks entirely possible.
Doctor Doolittle talked to the animals, Jordan Spieth talks to his balls. This one doesn’t listen, however. He chips over the 9th green and it only just pulls up short of nestling in a bush as he’s frantically urging it to come to a halt. The second chip is a little scuttler that leaves a nasty par putt which he holes. Not the neatest finish to the front nine, but two under is a good enough start for the 2017 champion.
Back-to-back birdies for Tiger Woods. A superb approach to the 10th, just a touch outside tap-in range, and he doesn’t fluff the chance. He’s four over.
5.53pm BST leaderboard
No change for the top three. There is not a lot of wind out there for the late starters, but the temperature is heading in only one direction.
-8: Young (F)
-6: McIlroy (F)
-5: Smith (F)
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Birdie for Tiger Woods! It’s taken a while, but after driving through the 9th green, he completes the up-and-down for the par breaker. Five over through the turn was not in his plans, but he can chip away at the back nine. The concern? It’s getting chilly out there and his back prefers some heat.
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A clumsy chip from off the 8th green from Jon Rahm. The Spaniard’s short game has been his weakness this year. He’s missed a few par breaking opportunities today and now he misses his 20 foot par saver to slip to one under for the day. He throws his arms out and chunters loudly that it’s the ground’s fault.
South Africa’s Thriston Lawrence makes a birdie at the 16th to get to three under. The 25-year-old has linksland experience in the form of victory in the 2014 Lytham Trophy which takes place at Lytham & St Anne’s, one of the Open rota courses. (Or is it?! There are plenty of rumours that it has quietly been dropped or is no longer being considered, less because of the quality of the test than the lack of space for infrastructure.)
Matt Fitzpatrick does not look happy on the 8th tee. He’s endured a scrappy start, is one over par, isn’t close with his tee shot, admitted earlier this week the course isn’t one of his favourites, and he pushed the club back into his bag with a touch of anger. Caddie Billy Foster tried to lighten the mood with a few words. Didn’t really look like it was working.
More woe for Tiger Woods. A double bogey six at the 7th. He is now six over for his round and tied 149th.
Back-to-back birdies for Dustin Johnson. He’s now three under through the 12th. Seven years ago everyone thought his name was on the Claret Jug, especially after he claimed the halfway lead. The engraver did scratch Johnson on the Jug but he added Zach because Dustin shot 75-75 at the weekend.
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Thanks Dave. I headed out to meet an old friend during my break. She was sat in the grandstand behind the 18th green. I was 30 feet away. But I had to walk three quarters of a mile to cover the distance between us. The reason? The Old Course is a difficult course to host 156 golfers and the challenge of shifting 50,000 people around it is even more awkward. If you’re coming this week, bring a lot of patience with you. It is Kafka-esque at times.
Tiger’s left-to-right par putt drops! Is that the spark he needs or a brief moment of respite? It’s back to Matt to guide you through Tiger’s travails. Woods heads to the 7th tee at +4, already 12 shots off the lead.
Another dreadful approach by Tiger at 6: a fanned, weak push to the right that can’t cut through the wind. He putts from off the green but the 15-time major winner is completely out of synch today and that pulls up 12 feet short. Woods is in danger of dropping to +5 which would leave just six players beneath him on the leaderboard.
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4.54pm BST leaderboard
As Jordan Spieth misses a tiddler for birdie at 5, let’s see the scores on the doors. Spieth is at -1 by the way.
-8: Young (F)
-6: McIlroy (F)
-5: Smith (F)
-4 Brown (F), Kitayama (F), Westwood (F), Kennedy (F), Hovland (F), Scheffler (11)
John Daly and Bryson DeChambeau were quite the pairing at St Andrews in round one. Kevin Mitchell had a close-up look.
Rory McIlroy speaks after his opening 66. And it all sounds hunky dory.
Yeah, fantastic start. Just sort of what you hope will happen when you’re starting off your week. Yeah, I mean I did everything that you’re supposed to do around St Andrews. I birdied the holes that are birdieable. And I made pars at the holes where you’re sort of looking to make a par and move to the next tee. And didn’t really put myself out of position too much.
Sort of maybe trying to be a little bit too cute with the second shot on 13, but apart from that, missed it in the right areas, areas where you can get it up-and-down from. And yeah, got off to a good start going out, which is sort of important here, make your score go right and sort of hang on a little bit coming in.
So, yeah, overall really pleased. It’s another good start at a major. Three in a row for me now. And looking forward to the next few days.
Everything feels very settled. No real issues with my game. Everything feels like it’s in good shape. Everything feels just sort of nice and quiet, which is a nice way to be. And yeah, thinking well.
Aussie Adam Scott has come in his cricket whites today and after three bogeys in his first six holes - “what on earth’s going on out there?” - he’s steadied the ship with birdies at 9 and 11 to return to +2. Good effort that.
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Scottie Scheffler’s birdie try at 10 flirts with the hole but stays above ground. He remains at -4 and in a tie for fourth. Everyone else either above or alongside him on the leaderboard has finished for the day.
Those out on the course at -3 include Parry after that birdie at 17, Talor Gooch (12) and Paul Casey (11). A couple of former Open champions, Padraig Harrington and Jordan Spieth, are at -1 after five and four holes respectively.
But Tiger? Sigh. A poor chip at 5 and he’ll stay at +4.
Can Tiger get something going at the par-five 5th hole? He finds the fairway with his drive and then slides a fairway wood into an upslope at the front of the green which kills his ball dead. Still, a dinky chip and putt and he’ll have his first birdie of the tournament. At +4 he needs it.
Up at 17, Harrogate’s John Parry almost holes for eagle after a superb approach ends inches from the cup. He could sell that for an awful lot of money on Sunday.
A nice graphic shows how leader Cameron Young compiled his 8-under 64. Will anyone catch him and, although it sounds like a daft question, is it a good place to be?
Rod Pampling missed the cut after taking the 18-hole lead at Carnoustie in 1999 (71 followed by an 86!) but that’s very much an outlier.
Looking at the last nine first-round leaders in the Open, six went on to finish in the top three. Two actually went wire-to-wire: Rory in 2014 and Jordan Spieth in 2017.
Seven of the last nine were still on top of the leaderboard at halfway so history says Young will hang around.
Cameron Young sets the pace with a stunning bogey-free round of -8 💪#The150thOpen pic.twitter.com/V0Gpbb2F50
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 14, 2022
World No 1 Scottie Scheffler knocks in a birdie putt at 9 after driving the green and the Texan, who has an air of Elvis ‘68 Comeback Special cool about him, saunters off to the 10th tee after an outward half of 4-under 32. Once more in a major, he’s making it look easy.
Tiger’s miserable start continues. He faces a 40-foot birdie putt at 4 and it pulls up far too soon. That leaves a 12-footer for par and it won’t drop. Woods now +4 after 4 and currently tied 132nd of the 156-man field.
Playing partner Matt Fitzpatrick is also flat. The US Open champion chunked his opening tee shot - not a punishable offence on that hole it has to be said - and has now dropped a shot at 4 to fall to +1.
It’s worth noting Rory McIlroy’s first-round scores when he’s won majors.
65 - 2011 US Open
67 - 2012 PGA Championship
66 - 2014 Open Championship
66 - 2014 PGA Championship
In other words/numbers, he’s always won them from a fast start. Today’s 66 puts him in golden position to end that eight-year drought.
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Thanks Matt. Hard to believe that six players haven’t even started their rounds yet! They include Jack Floydd, a man who must have spent much of his life telling people that there are really two d’s at the end of his surname. Floydd came through a five-man play-off in the 36-hole Final Qualifying event at Prince’s in Kent.
Scottie Scheffler drives through the green at the 9th. If he nails the up-and-down for a birdie he’ll complete a front nine of four under after he ticked a hat trick of par breakers from the third. With that, I’ll hand you back to Dave.
Justin Thomas cuts a frustrated figure as he completes a round of level par 72. He swapped two front nine birdies with a double bogey six at the 17th. His playing partner, the 2019 Open champion Shane Lowry, signs for the same score. The third man in the group, Norway’s Viktor Hovland, betters them by four.
3.52pm BST leaderboard
Jordan Spieth is one under through two and he knocks his approach at the third close, too.
-8: Young (F)
-6: McIlroy (F)
-5: Smith (F)
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Ouch. Not the start Tiger Woods was hoping for. After dropping two shots at the 1st, his approach at the 3rd missed the green and he can’t save par. His first putt was bold so he even had a knee-knocker just to minimise the damage.
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Rory McIlroy posts a first round 66.
His drive at the last finds the edge of the green and his 84’ eagle putt settles inches from the pin. He taps it in for a six under total, two blows behind Cameron Young’s lead, alone in second for now. He waves to the fans, both those inside the course with tickets and those who have turned up to peer at the action from the town side of the adjacent road.
When I was on the range earlier this week I heard that Adam Scott had slightly confounded everyone in the equipment trucks by changing his equipment on Sunday. It’s certainly looking like a rum decision as he lurches to four over through seven.
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Earlier today I referenced the birdie opportunity Rory McIlroy spurned in the 63 he opened the 2010 Open with. Today he saves par from off the green on the same hole. Two very different ways of making the same score and this one will make him much happier. He heads up the last five under for the day.
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Jordan Spieth opens his 2022 account with a safe par. The 2017 championship winner was also one shot outside a play-off on the Old Course in 2015, the 54-hole co-leader in 2018, top 10 for most of the week in 2019, and second last year. His Open pedigree is considerable.
3.20pm BST leaderboard
McIlroy misses the 17th green with his approach. He faces a fight to save par.
-8: Young (F)
-5: Smith (F), McIlroy (16)
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Double bogey start for Tiger Woods! His chip over the burn was solid but didn’t drop for par and the short bogey putt was never on the right line. An unfortunate, and then sloppy, start yet not unprecedented. Woods has a history of making poor beginnings. At the 2003 Open he even lost his first tee shot.
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Tiger finds water at the first! His drive finished in a divot, sand flew up when he made contact with the approach, it flew high, landed short, took one hop, and plopped into the Swilcan Burn.
England’s Paul Casey is three under through six holes. This is his first start since March so the major season had passed him by until now. A pity because, since the end of lockdown, the 44-year-old has recorded five top 20s in seven major appearances.
The biggest roar of the day is for the announcement of Tiger Woods on the first tee (although playing partner Matt Fitzpatrick, the new US Open champion, is not far behind). All eyes on Tiger’s limp, but let’s also focus on the swing. It’s looked very good through the practice days.
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Kurt Perleberg emails: “With the Paris Olympics 2 years away will we see Tiger Woods compete in golf at those games?” I’d be very surprised, Kurt. Perhaps the biggest difficulty is that qualification is based on world rankings and Woods is unlikely to ever play enough in the future to rise high enough in them to represent Team USA. As I write he takes his card from the starter. It’s nearly game time!
American Keith Mitchell opens his account with drive down the middle of the first. He has close links with the town because his father is an R&A member and his sister attended college here. He also cuts something of an old-fashioned golfing jib with a visor on his head and slacks with a touch of the 1980s about them.
Trouble for Ernie Els. His drive at the 17th finds the hotel gardens and it leads to a double bogey six. He tumbles from the top 10 but has the driveable 18th to come.
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A linksland bounce for McIlroy at the 15th. Of the unfortunate variety. He was eyeing his approach with interest, but it caught the side slope of a mound in the green and ricocheted across the green. He’ll be putting for birdie but happy with a safe lag to tap in range.
Email from David Williams: “What’s the furthest you’ve heard of someone travelling to the Open this year?” Interesting one. Everyone here is very aware that there are more Americans around for the 150th and I feel like the crowds are also much more diversely European. I’ve not heard of any huge journeys, but recall a fellow arrived in Carnoustie in 2018 following a cruise from Australia via North America.
Thanks Dave. During the break I headed out onto the course for a little wander and there was plenty of chatter about Tiger Woods. There’s a growing belief that he has some good golf in him because the course is an ideal fit: fast-running links golf leads us back to his Hoylake win of 2006 and the Carnoustie near-comeback in 2018.
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McIlroy sums up the madness of a firm and fast St Andrews. He belts a driver way down the 616-yard par five 14th and then hits a wedge for his second which bounds way over the green and into rough. But some magic in the wrists leaves him a tap-in birdie after a beautiful chip and he’s back to -5.
And on that bombshell, I’ll hand you back to Matt.
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Looks as if the wind is picking up. Tiger Woods is currently on the range and his trouser legs are-a-flapping.
Tiger tees off at 2.59pm alongside US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick and American Max Homa, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour this season and an entertaining follow on Twitter.
Some say it’s good luck to finish up an @Elijah_Craig distillery tour having a drink at the Five Brothers Bar with friends and family. And in the words of Michael Scott, I wouldn’t say I’m superstitious, but I am a little stitious pic.twitter.com/jVrdT5Yomp
— max homa (@maxhoma23) July 13, 2022
“I had some putts today that I thought, wow, that’s glass,” said local man Robert MacIntyre after his 2-under 70. The Scot had it to -4 at one stage but suffered on two of the course’s hardest holes, making double bogey at 13 and dropping another shot at 17.
He also tips his hat to playing partner Cameron Young, who leads at 8-under.
Cameron was just absolutely brilliant. He holed some putts, but overall he hardly missed a shot.
The Austrian journalist who feared for his countryman Sepp Straka had it right. A look at the leaderboard and Straka is dead last on +9.
A few other notes: Tony Finau has birdied three of his last four holes to jump from +2 to -1 while Scottie Scheffler is also into red figures after a par-par-birdie start. Five Aussies in the top 18 with Marc Leishman picking up shots at 1 and 3 to go to -2.
A setback for Rory McIlroy at 13 as his high-tariff chip skirts over a greenside bunker after he’d tried to catch a mound above it to deaden the pace. His ball races away across the huge green but a brilliant lag putt limits the damage to a bogey. Take that and move on. Par five coming up next.
Phil Mickelson shot a decent-enough even-par 72 today but he’s been making more news off the course, as Ewan Murray explains.
Bryson DeChambeau was asked after his 3-under 69 if the fast-running course took driver out of his hand.
Yeah, it did, for sure. Even with 3,000 spin on my driver, which I inherently did for this week, I can’t control it in the fairway. So I’ve got to play a 4-iron that can still run 300 yards and have wedges in from there. It does take driver out of play quite a bit.
And even 3-wood on 9 was too much and there’s bunkers that are kind of diabolical. You’ve got to strategise your way around this golf course really well and it’s not simple by any means.
This is about winning a major championship that I have to be strategic out here. There’s no way to bomb and gouge it out this week.
Should we be surprised to see Cameron Young setting the pace? It’s his Open debut but not really.
The American has a habit of starting fast and has been the first-round leader in two of his last six PGA Tour events (the RBC Heritage and the Memorial Tournament). Wind back to May last year and he was the 18-hole leader in back-to-back weeks on the Korn Ferry Tour. As with his opening lap here, Young started both those events with 64s: a good omen perhaps.
The 25-year-old was also tied third on his PGA Championship debut last month so he’s some player.
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In-form Xander Schauffele swallowed an annoying bogey at the 1st but the Scottish Open champion has responded well, working his way back up the leaderboard with birdies at 3, 5, 7 and 12. That’s currently good enough for tied eighth.
Schauffele is now heading to the tough 13th where McIlroy hits first, his iron bounding on and on and on before settling in the rough. Schauffele’s drive rolls up to the edge of the very short stuff and he’ll be pleased with that.
1.43pm BST leaderboard
Cameron Young dribbles his six-foot birdie putt into the hole at 18 and that completes a fantastic 8-under 64. Catch him if you can! Rory’s doing his best and the 2014 Open winner comes within a fraction of holing his eagle putt at 12. Still, a tap-in birdie takes him into tied second.
Here’s the leaderboard:
-8: Young (F)
-5: Smith (F), Els (13), McIlroy (12)
-4: Brown (F), Kitayama (F), Westwood (15)
Updated
Plenty of the later starters will have been watching the early footage on TV. Although, if you’re 2016 Open winner Henrik Stenson you can just take it in from the balcony. The Swede is now on the course, currently +1 after 3.
Great place to watch @TheOpen !@OldCourseHotel pic.twitter.com/i1C1pls5Si
— Henrik Stenson (@henrikstenson) July 14, 2022
Updated
Leader Cameron Young (-7) arrives at 18 and drives through the green. Back at 12, McIlroy launches one and it bounds off the mounds and then creeps into shot on the front of the putting surface to give him a shot at eagle. Meanwhile, back-to-back bogeys from Lee Westwood take him alongside McIlroy at -4.
Updated
Next on the 1st tee is world No 1 Scottie Scheffler. The Texan was tied eighth on his Open debut last year and is a big fan of links golf.
He’s had quite the year in the majors, winning the US Masters in April and finishing runner-up to Matt Fitzpatrick in last month’s US Open. He warmed up for this week by playing those classic Irish links at Ballybunion and Lahinch.
Scheffler revealed in his interview on Wednesday that he’s an avid YouTube watcher and has been viewing lots of past Opens. That thirst for knowledge worked well at Augusta where ploughing through old Masters footage helped him end the week in a Green Jacket.
Two-time Open champion Ernie Els is rolling back the years. The ‘Big Easy’ cruises into tied second on five under after another gain at the 12th.
Els has a ridiculously good record in this event: wins in 2002 (Muirfield) and Royal Lytham (2012) and a mighty total of 13 top 10s. These days you’ll find him on the Champions Tour and a third place in the Senior Players Championship last week meant he arrived in St Andrews in good heart.
He was runner-up in the 2000 Open at St Andrews but had to settle for tied 34th in 2005, a missed cut in 2010 and tied 65th in 2015.
A controlled, sawn-off iron by McIlroy from the tee at 11, one of just two par threes on the course, will give him another look at birdie. His 15-footer won’t drop though but it’s another safe par ticked off and he stays in a tie for fourth on -4.
Just plotting his route ahead, the par-four 12th is an obvious birdie chance but the 13th is currently the hardest hole on the course, averaging 4.5, half a stroke above its par.
From there, he has the par-five 14th and then the contrasting difficulties of 17 and 18. The Road Hole is the second hardest hole (4.4) while the closer is the second easiest (3.52).
Thanks Matt. I’ll start with the news that Cameron Smith has two-putted the last for birdie after driving the green and that’s a 5-under 67 for the Aussie. He’s the new clubhouse leader, two back from Cameron Young, who smashed a huge drive at 16 but failed to make his birdie.
Birdie for Marcus Armitage at the fourth. He’s one under for the day and on his way to paying for his spending spree earlier this week. With that, I’ll hand back to Dave.
Ian Linklater emails again: “Oops. Sorry to disappoint your childhood memories but the park is Kinburn Park not Kinder Park.” More bad news: Meronk has made a second bogey of the day at the third. He used to drive three hours to play golf (and that’s when the course wasn’t under snow) so he’ll have a degree of resilience to fall back on. Powodzenia, Adrian. (Good luck in Polish.)
12.52pm BST leaderboard
McIlroy didn’t make birdie at the 9th. Meanwhile, veteran Ernie Els moves into a share of second.
-7: Young (15)
-4: Brown, Kitayama (18), Smith (17), Els, Kennedy (11), McIlroy (9)
Updated
Bryson DeChambeau breaks 70. The beefy big-hitter failed to achieve that feat in his first 11 rounds of Open golf, but his 69 today is a second good effort in a row after he ended the 2021 championship with a 65.
Phil Mickelson has been in talking to the media. There was once an extraordinarily bad portrait of him hanging in a St Andrews pub, one that made him look old and frail. Despite signing for a level-par 72 it was noted that he was looking even worse than the artist managed all those years ago.
A bit of background on Kurt Kitayama. He was second last week in the Scottish Open, a third top three of the year. He’s also a two-time winner on the DP World Tour, both by the sea and in gusting conditions, albeit in Mauritius and Oman rather than the Kingdom of Fife. He’s signed for a 68 and will enjoy his lunch.
Back to McIlroy at the 9th. He does, after all, get to use his putter, but from off the green. He’ll have hoped for better, however: he has around 15 feet for birdie. Somewhat typical of the Rory riddle: he can make the difficult holes look simple and the simple holes look difficult.
Updated
Ian Linklater emails: “St Andrews had a strong relationship with wartime Poland. Perhaps Adrian Meronk would like to know about the memorial to General Wladyslaw Sikorski (WWII military leader and former Prime Minister of Poland) which is sited in Kinder Park.” Great name for a park, although I suspect not linked to the eggs which I can now smell very vividly. Meronk, alas, is one over through two.
12.30pm BST leaderboard
American Kurt Kitayama, a specialist by the sea and in the wind, joins the pack in second behind Young.
-7: Young (13)
-4: Brown, Kitayama (18), Smith (15), McIlroy (8)
Updated
Big moment for Rory. The short par-four 9th is vulnerable at 342 yards. How so? It’s flat and downwind. Only two of the first 15 players to attack it this morning failed to break par. There’s a wait on the tee for McIlroy, which isn’t ideal, and there’s a slightly sad shake of his head after his tee shot drifts right. A chip and a putt will earn a birdie, but he was hoping to make a long walk to the green with putter in hand.
Unlucky 13th. It strikes again for the Brits. It hurt Tommy Fleetwood and now Robert MacIntyre makes double bogey six there. He remains under par, however. Two below the card and there is time to repair the damage for the Oban man.
A blow for the hopes of Tommy Fleetwood. Birdie at the 12th is followed by double bogey six at the 13th which leaves him one over for the round. He’s a Dunhill Links Championship specialist, but he struggled in the 2015 Open in St Andrews and the pattern might be repeating: October good, July bad.
Birdie number four for Rory McIlroy! It comes at the short par-four 7th and it moves him into a share of second. Can he replicate his start in the 2010 Open on the Old Course? That Thursday he made 63 and that effort included a missed birdie attempt from short range at the difficult 17th.
11.55am BST leaderboard
Cameron Young adds another birdie to his tally. He’s now seven under through 12. Excitement for the locals as Scot Robert MacIntyre moves into the top five.
-7: Young (12)
-5: Kim (15)
-4: Brown (18), Smith (13), MacIntyre (12)
Updated
Adrian Meronk is preparing to make history by becoming the first Pole to play in the Open. He’s not the first Pole to make an impression in St Andrews, however. There’s a plaque 200 yards from where Meronk tees off in a few minutes to celebrate Jozef Kosacki, a signals officer based in the town during the Second World War, who invented a method of detecting unexploded bombs that is still in use today.
Andy Cruise writes: “What is it in the town of St Andrews this week?” Oddly, Andy, there was a touch of Fawlty Towers about it last night. I was with a party of Americans who ask for food at 9.01 and were told the kitchen closed at 9. I’m slightly disappointed that they didn’t want a (Duffy?) Waldorf Salad or were willing to bribe the owner to keep the chef on.
Club twirl from Rory. His approach to the 6th settles close to the hole. He’ll have about eight feet for a third birdie of the day. Meanwhile, Shane Lowry makes a first birdie of the day at the 5th, but he is two over for the round.
Aaron Rai gets a start this week. And he might have earned it. Erik Van Rooyen had to pull out this morning with a bad neck and Rai was on hand to take advantage. There is a rumour that the Wolverhampton man slept in his car by the beach last night. Van Rooyen might not be the only one with a stiff neck ...
Rory McIlroy adds a second birdie. The pre-tournament favourite failed to reach the par-five second in two blows, but completes a smart up-and-down. A safe start from the Northern Irishman. Nods of approval in the media centre.
11.32am BST leaderboard
Cameron Young pours in yet another birdie. The American, a five-time top three finisher this season, is six under through 11 holes.
-6: Young (11)
-4: Brown (18), Kim (14), Smith (12), Kennedy (7)
Updated
Cameron Smith finds the fairway at the 13th. The adjacent fairway. The Aussie is four under and in great shape but he was concerned about pulling his driver earlier in the week and, even though he is favouring irons from the tee today, that nasty pull is proving persistent. Common wisdom, however, always say go left on the Old Course - and it’s working for him at the moment.
An electric start from the Japan-based Aussie Brad Kennedy. He’s four under through six holes and arrived in Scotland off the back of four straight top 10 finishes. The Aussies have been licking their lips all week about the fast-running turf and blustery wind, which reminds them of home, but few would have had Kennedy down as a name to watch.
Yorkshire amateur Barclay Brown has finished his first Open round bogey-free. He’d made an excellent birdie at the par-four 17th, the much-feared Road Hole, but could not make further headway at the easier 18th, even after driving to the back of the putting surface on the short par-four. Nonetheless, he’s set a new clubhouse target of four-under-par 68.
Updated
Thank you Dave and welcome everyone to auld grey toun where, after a quiet-ish start, the golf is warming up and so is the temperature. Meanwhile, I’m still reeling from the revelation that a giddy Marcus Armitage spent £2,500 in the merchandise tent earlier this week.
And as Rory McIlroy holes out for par at 4, I’ll hand you over to Matt Cooper - live from St Andrews!
Neil Jones writes: “Justin Thomas paying tribute to the great Max Wall by dressing as Professor Wallofski. Looking forward to the dance routine later.”
I once saw The Brothers Lee perform that walk at Blackpool in 1973. Got their autographs too. Peters and Lee on the same bill.
Lee a popular name in 1970s light entertainment and also in top-class golf. Min Woo Lee, the brother of double major winner Minjee Lee, has just posted the clubhouse lead of -3 after a 69. Lee was in the first group out today alongside Paul Lawrie and the Scot, who was given the honour of hitting the opening shot, finishes on a high, tapping in for eagle after driving the green. Not his best day but nice to turn a 76 into a 74.
Updated
10.55am BST leaderboard
Is this a first - two Camerons leading an Open? Aussie Smith and American Young share top spot with Joo-Hyung Kim.
-4: J Kim (11), Smith (10), Young (8)
-3: Lee (17), Brown (16), Kitayama (13), Tringale (10), Horschel (7).
Updated
The perfectly-balanced Kevin Kisner rolls in a six-foot birdie putt at the 1st. That must be the closest approach we’ve seen so far, with most players hitting their short irons deep into the green to stay away from the Swilcan Burn. The flag is just six paces in. Earlier, Kurt Kitayama took the pin on and his ball pinged back from the railway sleepers flanking the burn, leaving him with another wedge.
As we pace ourselves through this busy morning, why not take some time to read another great 80s blog from Steven Pye. This one is dedicated to Seve.
McIlroy has to lean on his putter to escape with a par at the 2nd hole. He stays at -1 and will have a birdie look at 3.
But Shane Lowry’s flatstick lets him down at 2. He misses a short one and, even worse, that was for bogey after a loose drive. A double bogey and he’s down to +2. Early days though and a reminder that co-leader Min Woo Lee was +2 after 3 before surging up to -4.
From Zapruder to Zalatoris. Here’s Matt from the course again: “The latest Will Zalatoris bid for major championship glory has been aided by a local caddie. His team went looking for an expert to walk with their man in practice, highlighting a few Old Course secrets.”
Will that be the missing piece of the jigsaw for the young American who has finished runner-up in the last two majors following a second place in the 2021 Masters? Zalatoris, Hideki Matsuyama (the man who pipped him at Augusta last year) and Tony Finau have all just parred the opening hole.
Nice to see Rory McIlroy wearing yellow outerwear today. A nod to Jack Nicklaus?
One curiosity when watching the footage of Nicklaus’ playoff win over poor old Doug Sanders in 1970 is that, at the final hole, Jack tees off in a black polo-neck but holes the winning putt wearing a yellow jumper after his tee shot bounds through the green, back and to the left. Back and to the left. Back and to the left. It leads us to an uncomfortable conclusion: was there a second Jack Nicklaus at St Andrews on that fateful day?
Updated
Interesting clothing choice from Justin Thomas, who hits a fine approach to the 1st before missing his birdie putt. A camouflage hoodie with trousers short enough to flash a bit of ankle.
Thomas won the PGA Championship (for a second time) at Southern Hills in May but he’s yet to have a top 10 in an Open; his best was tied 11th at Royal Portrush.
Up ahead, a chapeau doff to hat-wearing Barclay Brown as the amateur holes a five-footer for birdie at 14 to advance to -3. That’s just one back from the lead of -4 held by Min Woo Lee, Joo-Hyung Kim and Cameron Young. Kim was third in last week’s Scottish Open so is continuing his impressive form.
From Matt Cooper at the course: An extraordinary scene on the main putting green by the range - Kevin Kisner putting with balls strapped under his feet. “Why’s he doing that?” someone asked. “To help his balance,” someone replied. “How hard is it to stand up?” came the counter.
Rory McIlroy casually pours in a 55-foot putt for birdie at the 1st! What a start for the tournament favourite and 2014 Claret Jug winner! That’s a contrast to Xander Schauffele who suffers a three-putt bogey.
Back on the 1st tee, 2019 Open champion Shane Lowry gets his bid underway. Surprisingly, Lowry hasn’t won anywhere since that emotional victory at Royal Portrush although he’s played some excellent golf this season, finishing third at the Masters and racking up a series of top 10s.
Klaxon! We have a first player to hit -4. It’s Aussie Min Woo Lee after an eagle at 14 and that’s some burst of scoring after he slipped to +2 following a double bogey at 3. Since that blemish, he’s birdied 4, 8, 9, and 12 before needing just three swishes at the par-5 14th. Lee won last year’s Scottish Open so he likes links golf.
It’s Rory time! After waiting 12 years to hit another shot in an Open at St Andrews, McIlroy finally begins his bid to join the likes of Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Nick Faldo by winning a Claret Jug at the Old Course. First to hit is defending champion Collin Morikawa, followed by McIlroy and then last week’s Scottish Open winner Xander Schauffele. All hit routine irons down the massive opening fairway.
Simon McMahon writes: “I’m sure there would be many popular champions on Sunday, not least among them Rory and Tiger, but also strange to think that there could also be a few, well, less popular ones too. Imagine the faces on Sunday evening, “Firstly, I’d like to thank Greg…”. Maybe the R&A will present a three quarters size Claret Jug to all of the leading LIV players after the third round on Saturday, then quietly escort them out of St. Andrews..?”
DeChambeau (-2 after 7), Mickelson (-1 after 9) and Reed (-1 after 8) currently the best placed to act out that chilling scenario for the R&A.
Bryson DeChambeau nearly corkscrews himself into the ground as he tries to drive the par-4 7th. He almost does so, his ball pulling up just short. The eagle putt won’t fall but he taps in for a third straight birdie and golf’s biggest hitter is now lurking at -2, just one off the lead which is now a five-way tie. Poulter is no longer part of it after a bogey at 11.
-3: Burmester (12), Wu (12), J Kim (8), Tringale (7), Poston (3)
Poulter’s eagle putt at 9 (9.29am) was 162 feet by the way. And that means he’s just pipped swimmer Michael Phelps, who famously drained one from 159 feet (at Kingsbarns) in the 2012 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship held in these parts.
Wogan’s putt, holed at Gleneagles, seems to be from a mere 100 feet. Although Tel did the best celebration.
Updated
9.45am BST leaderboard
Time for a leaderboard update as the air warms, the wind drops and the birdie-rate quickens.
-3: Wu (11), Poulter (9), J Kim (7), Tringale (6)
-2: MW Lee (12), Brown (12), Burmester (11), Kitayama (8), Smith (5), Young (4), MacIntyre (4), Poston (2)
Updated
Chris Carey writes: “This may be a stupid question, and one from those of us who only dip into golf at the majors, but why are the tee times 11 mins apart? Seems oddly specific.”
I think you work backwards after calculating daylight hours and number of players in the field. If they were shorter intervals, you’d have lots of waiting around. Longer and you’d never get everyone round in time. And so we land at 11. That’s my best explanation at least!
Forget those boos on the 1st tee, Ian Poulter has just generated the loudest cheers of the morning after draining a, what, 100 foot putt from just off the green at 9. Wow!
Not only is it one for the highlight reels, that Terry Wogan-esque bomb takes him into a tie for the lead with American Brandon Wu!
Over 160ft😳#The150thOpen pic.twitter.com/ZakuMSVB09
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 14, 2022
Updated
Austrian Sepp Straka won this year’s Honda Classic but why is that so significant in terms of this week? Take a look at past winners and you’ll find a bunch of Open champions: Mark Calcavecchia, Justin Leonard, Todd Hamilton, Padraig Harrington, Ernie Els and Rory. Its host course, PGA National, is exposed and windy so that could be the explanation.
Can Straka add to that trend Hmmm. An Austrian journalist by the 1st tee says Straka is struggling a bit this week. “Born in Vienna, bred in Georgia, not a lot of seaside golf there.”
That little nugget, by the way, came from Matt Cooper, who is sharing blogging duties with me this week. Matt is actually in St Andrews as you might have guessed.
Rory McIlroy is on the range, prepping for his 09.58 tee time. The Northern Irishman is in one of the marquee groups alongside defending Open champion Collin Morikawa and man-of-the-moment Xander Schauffele (three straight wins if you count his victory at last week’s 36-hole JP McManus Pro Am).
Cameron Smith, the tip of Lloyd Cole, discusses strategy with his caddie on the par-5 5th tee. The Aussie rather pulls his drive left but it looks okay. A decent start so far for the Players Championship winner: he drained a big birdie putt at 2 and has signed for pars at 1, 3 and 4.
Up at 12, Simpson had to take a penalty drop from the gorse and his third to yet another tricky pin position, tumbles away to finish on the bottom tier so a par looks unlikely from there.
Updated
Joint-leader Webb Simpson shouts ‘fore’ as he pulls his tee shot at the short par-4 12th towards a bunch of gorse bushes. Oh dear, that could be trouble.
All those scare stories that St Andrews would yield ridiculously low scores look somewhat misplaced so far with the leaders only at -2. Jamie Donaldson, who qualified after finishing sixth in last week’s Scottish Open, is +5 and dead last.
How about a left-handed winner this year? History says no. Surprisingly, Bob Charles in 1963 (Royal Lytham) and Phil Mickelson (2013) are the only southpaws to have had their names engraved on the Claret Jug. This ain’t no Wimbledon or indeed Augusta National where left-handers won six of the 12 editions from 2003 to 2014.
There are four lefties in the field this week: Mickelson, local man Robert MacIntyre, American Brian Harman and South African Garrick Higgo.
All four are already out on the course and MacIntyre (2) and Harman (1) have both made early birdies to sit at -1. Mickelson is level after five straight pars while Higgo is +2 after 6.
Early leaderboard
Simpson makes a careless bogey at the 10th and that means the leaderboard is bunched.
-2: Simpson (10), Brown (9), Herbert (5), Tringale (3)
-1: Wu (8), Poulter (6), M Kim (5), Kitayama (5), Hoge (4), J Kim (4), Smith (3), Young (2), MacIntyre (2), Horschel (1)
Updated
John Daly, sporting his now familiar Father Christmas beard, has started par-bogey-par.
‘Wild Thing’ must have the most curious major record in men’s golf. In 76 starts, he has just three top 10s but two of those are wins! That includes his memorable victory at St Andrews in 1995 when he gathered himself to win a playoff after watching ashen-faced as Costantino Rocca holed a miracle long-range birdie putt from the ‘Valley of Sin’ to tie. Daly hasn’t made the cut at an Open since 2012.
Updated
Cameron Tringale, the first-round leader in last week’s Scottish Open (he went on to finish sixth), has made another bright start. Birdies at 1 and 3 have taken the Californian to -2 and a shot back from Simpson.
Tringale has yet to win on the PGA Tour so this would seem an unlikely place to grab that elusive first victory. He was tied 26th in last year’s Open at Royal St George’s and tied 14th in last month’s US Open (his best major finish) so perhaps the 34-year-old could hang around near the top of the leaderboard this week.
Leader Webb Simpson drops a shot at 8 but bounces back with a birdie at 9 to return to -3. That’s an outward half of 33 and he’s a shot clear of Australian Lucas Herbert, who has picked up shots at 2 and 4.
Forget Reed, the leader in the hat stakes is English amateur Barclay Brown, who sounds like an English character actor from the Terry-Thomas era. A member of last year’s Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team, Brown has made an excellent start: six pars and a birdie at 7 to sit tied third.
Barclay Brown's 🪣 hat: Yes or No?#The150thOpen pic.twitter.com/QMLp6MRlnu
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 14, 2022
Bryson DeChambeau’s ‘drive a load of par 4s’ strategy hits an early bump as he bogeys one of his targeted holes, the 2nd. Perhaps the message sinks that it isn’t this straightforward as he only takes an iron off the tee at the 3rd.
Meanwhile, fellow major winner, Patrick Reed, has birdied the 3rd to go to -1. Reed is another of those to sign up with LIV. And just in case anybody doesn’t know, he’s wearing a LIV golf cap.
Justin Rose withdraws
Justin Rose, the runner-up at Carnoustie in 2018, has pulled out. The Englishman was seen warming up but he doesn’t appear for his 08.14 tee time. That’s a real shame. Rose has shown flickers of good form this season, finishing fourth at the Canadian Open three starts ago. And, of course, we all remember how he first shot to fame in this event when finishing fourth as a lanky teenage amateur at Royal Birkdale in 1998. Rose was also tied sixth in the last St Andrews Open in 2015 and finished runner-up at Carnoustie four years ago.
Updated
Another birdie for Webb Simpson, this time at 7, and the 36-year-old moves to -3. That’s good enough for a two-shot lead.
The American seems to like a fast start in this event. He was third after day one at Royal Portrush in 2019 and shot a 66 to lie fourth following the opening lap at Royal St George’s last year.
Despite all the talk of low scoring, the field is a collective +4 over par. These tucked pin placements help explain why. It’s also pretty chilly.
👇 Pin positions for Round 1 of #The150thOpen 📝 pic.twitter.com/ZbF0t1b0Ev
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 14, 2022
Some big names starting to go out and Bryson DeChambeau almost holes his approach at the 1st for eagle, his ball sucking back and just failing to catch the cup. Potential eagle becomes par as he shoves his short birdie try right.
DeChambeau claimed earlier this week that he reckons he has a chance to drive the par 4s at 2, 3, 7, 9, 10 and 12. Strangely, he didn’t say 18. We shall see if he can walk the walk and what good such a strategy does him.
Not the warmest of welcomes for Ian Poulter on the 1st tee earlier. Some boos in fact. Hard to think that the Englishman would be fazed but he almost hooked his opening tee shot out of bounds which is going some on the widest fairway in golf.
Polite applause for Phil Mickelson though and the six-time major champion/LIV disgrace finds the right-hand side of the fairway. He makes par, as does Poulter.
Updated
Preamble
Links golf is all about dealing with bad breaks. But imagine being Rory McIlroy after his third-place finish in the 2010 Open at St Andrews and being told you won’t be contesting another Claret Jug at the Home of Golf until 2022 due to knackering your leg playing football and a global pandemic.
But here we are 12 years later and Rory finally gets another chance to make history and do what so many of the greats have done: win an Open at St Andrews.
This is the 150th edition of the world’s oldest major and 30th at St Andrews. Tom Kidd pocketed 11 quid for winning the first to be held here in 1873 while this year’s champion banks $2.5million.
A scroll down memory lane at St Andrews shows a timeline of exalted champions: Bobby Jones 1927, Sam Snead 1946, Peter Thomson 1955, Bobby Locke 1957, Jack Nicklaus 1970 and 1978, Seve Ballesteros 1984, Nick Faldo 1990, Tiger Woods 2000 and 2005 and, erm, Zach Johnson in 2015.
The bookmakers think ‘Rory McIlroy 2022’ is the next entry but there’s an all-star cast with other ideas bidding to be announced as “the champion golfer of the year” on Sunday.
Here are the tee times for round one - all times BST
06.35 Paul Lawrie, Webb Simpson, Min Woo Lee
06.46 Sadom Kaewkanjana, Ben Campbell, Barclay Brown
06.57 Dean Burmester, Chan Kim, Brandon Wu
07.08 Ian Poulter, Jamie Donaldson, Guido Migliozzi
07.19 Garrick Higgo, MinKyu Kim, Ashley Chesters
07.30 Phil Mickelson, Lucas Herbert, Kurt Kitayama
07.41 Patrick Reed, Tom Hoge, JooHyung Kim
07.52 John Daly, Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Tringale
08.03 Cameron Smith, Brooks Koepka, Seamus Power
08.14 Francesco Molinari, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose
08.25 Cameron Young, Kyoung Hoon Lee, Robert MacIntyre
08.36 Zach Johnson, Billy Horschel, Corey Conners
08.47 Brian Harman, Pablo Larrazabal, Danny Willett
09.03 Stephen Dodd, JT Poston, Lee Westwood
09.14 Sepp Straka, Luke List, Justin De Los Santos
09.25 Ernie Els, Adri Arnaus, Brad Kennedy
09.36 Mackenzie Hughes, Scott Vincent, Victor Perez
09.47 Jason Kokrak, Nicolai Hojgaard, Sihwan Kim
09.58 Collin Morikawa, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele
10.09 Shane Lowry, Justin Thomas, Victor Hovland
10.20 Will Zalatoris, Hideki Matsuyama, Tony Finau
10.31 Kevin Kisner, Chris Kirk, Takumi Kanaya
10.42 Dylan Frittelli, Trey Mullinax, Matthew Jordan
10.53 Anthony Quayle, Zander Lombard, John Parry
11.04 Thomas Detry, Richard Mansell, Marco Penge
11.15 Alexander Bjork, Oliver Farr, Matt Ford
11.36 Mark Calcavecchia, Ryan Fox, Jediah Morgan
11.47 Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Bernd Wiesberger, Sam Bairstow
11.58 Adrian Meronk, Haotong Li, Marcus Armitage
12.09 Thriston Lawrence, Fabrizio Zanotti, Alex Wrigley
12.20 Aaron Wise, Si Woo Kim, Sam Horsfield
12.31 Talor Gooch, Shaun Norris, Wyndham Clark
12.42 Henrik Stenson, Russell Henley, Aldrich Potgieter
12.53 Stewart Cink, Sergio Garcia, Aaron Jarvis
13.04 Sungjae Im, Paul Casey, Gary Woodland
13.15 Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott, Marc Leishman
13.26 Scottie Scheffler, Joaquin Niemann, Tyrrell Hatton
13.37 Darren Clarke, Richard Bland, Filippo Celli
13.48 Kevin Na, Kazuki Higa, Erik van Rooyen
14.04 David Duval, Justin Harding, Jordan Smith
14.15 Shugo Imahira, Jason Scrivener, David Law
14.26 Abraham Ancer, Yuto Katsuragawa, Emiliano Grillo
14.37 Louis Oosthuizen, Harris English, Keita Nakajima
14.48 Padraig Harrington, Thomas Pieters, Keith Mitchell
14.49 Tiger Woods, Matt Fitzpatrick, Max Homa
15.10 Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm, Harold Varner III
15.21 Patrick Cantlay, Sam Burns, Mito Pereira
15.32 Keegan Bradley, Sebastian Munoz, Sahith Theegala
15.43 Laurie Canter, Dimitrios Papadatos, Matthew Griffin
15.54 John Catlin, Jamie Rutherford, David Carey
16.05 Mingyu Cho, Jorge Fernandez Valdes, Robert Dinwiddie
16.16 Lars Van Meijel, Jack Floydd, Ronan Mullarney
It’s just under 90 minutes since 1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie - using a yellow ball! - hit the opening tee shot of this 150th Open Championship.
Very few birdies so far with the pins tucked away although Lawrie’s playing partner, 2012 US Open champion Webb Simpson, has managed red numbers at 1 and 5 and leads at -2. Lawrie got tangled up in rough at the 4th to slip to +3 but has bounced back with a birdie at the 5th.
Your early leaderboard:
-2: Simpson (5)
-4: Burmester (3), M Kim (2)
