The first round of the 2026 British Open at Royal Birkdale was played under pretty ideal weather conditions on a sun-baked day in Southport, England. Some surprising names find themselves near the top of the leaderboard after Day 1 and some big names are right there, too.
And while all of those stories are fun, the juiciest storyline of the day happened during a post-round interview in which Bryson DeChambeau not-so-subtly roasted Nick Faldo, a three-time winner of the British Open, while talking about his mindset during his opening round.
We’ll get into that and more in our breakdown of the winners and losers from Thursday’s first round.
Winner: Bryson Dechambeau’s super salty, and petty, interview
DeChambeau took a lot of grief this week from Faldo, who won six major championships during his legendary career. Faldo said DeChambeau had “zero clue of strategy” when it comes to playing links golf.
Well, DeChambeau fired a three-under 67 on Thursday and then had some fun during a very brief post-round interview.
"I think you've got to be a lot more strategic out on the golf course,” he said. “I feel like I did a really good job today of being incredibly strategic and focused super hard on placing it in the right places. Besides 18, I placed the ball in some good areas. I just need to hit more fairways. Other than that, I feel like my strategy was nice today."
"I felt like my strategy was nice today."
— GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) July 16, 2026
Bryson DeChambeau mentioned strategy a few times in his only post-round comments today. 🤣 pic.twitter.com/urNVm2zflx
Loser: Jordan Spieth stumbles, leaves his fans questioning everything
One writer at Sports Illustrated who will remain nameless picked Spieth to win the whole dang thing this week. It does not appear like that will happen. Spieth shot a three-over 73 and is eight shots off the lead after one round. To make matters worse, Spieth has dedicated Twitter tracker accounts quitting on the spot. He’s not out of it, but it’s not looking good for the guy who hoisted the Claret Jug the last time the British Open visited Royal Birkdale.
SpiethCamp, out!
— SpiethCamp (@Spieth_Camp) July 16, 2026
Grew this to 1.2k. Started in March
It’s been a rollercoaster, with more downs than ups.
Spieth is cooked. He’ll never make a change, his mind is literally fried.
Maybe I’ll pick this up in 20 years when he’s fighting to make the cut on the Champions Tour.
Winner: Scottie Scheffler shakes off last week’s stunning missed cut
Scheffler surprised everyone last week when he missed his first cut in 78 events at the Scottish Open. He was able to shake off that poor performance by shooting a two-under 68 on Thursday. He got off to a hot start and was four-under through six holes but bogeys on the par-3 7th and the par-5 17th dropped him a few back of the leaders. It was still a very good bounce-back day for the No. 1 player in the world.
"We have to think a lot off the tee around this golf course." 💡
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) July 16, 2026
Scottie Scheffler recaps his first-round 68 at Royal Birkdale, including a four-birdie start through six holes
He also shot 68 to start The Open last year, which he went on to win 👀 pic.twitter.com/LNowMFvLSd
Loser: Robert MacIntyre’s Dan Flashes-esque shirt
MacIntyre had a very good first round, as he shot a three-under 67 in the early wave. He didn’t, however, have a very good shirt. He had some fun with it after the round, saying: “[Nike] obviously thought I wasn’t playing well enough this year in a quieter shirt, so they went a wee bit louder.”
-3 67 for Robert MacIntyre.
— John Turnbull (@JohnTurnbull03) July 16, 2026
“They [Nike] obviously thought I wasn’t playing well enough this year in a quieter shirt, so they went a wee bit louder”. pic.twitter.com/DTi25vLB4m
Winner: Tyrrell Hatton plays well after hilarious quote about the state of his game
Hatton had the line of the week on Tuesday when he told a reporter that his golf game was currently a five out of 10 and that he’d be watching Sunday’s final round from his couch. But that might not be the case because he opened with a one-under 69; his only blemish came on the difficult 18th hole where he made his lone bogey of the day.
Reporter: “I’ll see you in the last group on Sunday.”
— Covers (@Covers) July 15, 2026
Hatton: “Yeah good one, I’ll be on the sofa watching.”
Maybe don't bet Tyrell Hatton to win the Open 😂pic.twitter.com/DT1HFvohEO
Loser: Justin Rose had a rough first round
Rose knows Royal Birkdale well and was a bit of a sexy pick coming into this week, but he couldn’t get anything going Thursday and finished with a disappointing five-over 75. He has been dealing with a minor neck injury the past few weeks which prevented him from getting in a lot of work leading into the championship, but still, we expected more from him in the first round.
Winner: Hideki Matsuyama pulling off an absurd bunker shot
It wouldn’t be the British Open without a hilariously awkward shot out of the bunker. That’s what Matsuyama faced on his third shot of the par-5 17th hole. Sitting on top of the bunker in a squat like he’s a catcher in baseball awaiting an offspeed pitch in the dirt and the ball well below him, Matsuyama took a swat in the sand and plopped his golf ball just a few feet away from the pin. Well done, sir.
Pot bunker. Awkward stance. No problem for Hideki Matsuyama. pic.twitter.com/HkXuf1ob2z
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 16, 2026
Winner: Rory McIlroy’s 389-yard drive on the par-4 9th hole
The No. 2 player in the world took out some frustrations midway through his round with an absolute bomb of a drive on the 9th hole that came to a stop on the green. McIlroy was then able to two-putt for his first birdie of the day.
389 YARDS 🚀🤯
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) July 16, 2026
Rory McIlroy takes an aggressive line and drives the green en route to birdie on 9 pic.twitter.com/NfePpncl0l
Loser: Air conditioning in Britain
It’s been a hot summer in Europe. A very hot summer. This past week was no exception in Britain with temperatures exceeding 90°F (or whatever that is in Celcius) near Royal Birkdale. Michael Kim, who shot a three-over 73 on Thursday, walked back into his Airbnb after a practice round earlier this week to find the temperature at 31.2°C , which is 88°F.
Winner is @Pat00ter!
— Michael S. Kim (@Mike_kim714) July 14, 2026
That’s 88 Fahrenheit for my US friends lol pic.twitter.com/zDru6ieIOT
Luckily for the golfers in the UK, things are supposed to cool off this weekend.
Winner: Cigarettes
Two years ago, Dan Brown led the entire field after the first round of the 2024 British Open with six-under 65. He finished out his round Thursday with a four-under 66 and was the tournament co-leader until Jackson Suber rallied late for a five-under 65. After the round, Brown informed reporters that he was still able to enjoy his favorite hobby on the course—ripping cigarettes—despite the hot and dry conditions at Royal Birkdale.
