Key events
Bob Mac aside, it’s still a wee while until some of the more fancied stars take to the course. Time for a little scene setting, then. Ladies and gentlemen, on the tee, Ewan Murray …
A fast start for Bob MacIntyre! He sends his opening tee shot into the rough down the left, and only just finds the front of the green with his second. But he rolls in a 45-footer and birdie is not a bad way to start the week! Oban’s finest already has three top-ten finishes at the Open on his resumé, including a tie for seventh at Portrush last year. Keep an eye out.
-1: Detry (4), MacIntyre (1)
Joe Dean makes it out of the opening hole with par. His second finds a swale to the left of the green, but he chips up elegantly to kick-in distance. Four groups have gone through this hole now, but Thomas Detry remains the only player to make birdie.
… Joe Dean sends his opening tee shot into the rough down the right of 1. The 32-year-old from Sheffield has played in the Open twice before, two years ago at Troon and on this very course in 2017. He’s made the cut both times: indeed he bothered the top of the leaderboard on the opening day at Troon, a 69 putting him in a tie for fourth. (He finished tied for 25th.) Dean is here this week after winning that aforementioned Last Chance Qualifier, thanks in no small part to whip-cracking a long iron at the new par-five 14th to three feet for eagle. On the one hand, anything this week will feel like a bonus; on the other, he’s already got a competitive round at Birkdale under his belt this week, so he’ll look to hit the ground running.
The 2010 champion Louis Oosthuizen withdrew at the start of the week. His place has been taken by his compatriot and first alternate Aldrich Potgieter, and the fellow South Africans exchanged texts upon the news breaking. “You owe me a tonne of beer,” Oosthuizen messaged. “We’ll get that sorted for him,” Potgieter promised. The young big-hitting Potgieter will be out later, but as for the guy who pipped him at the Open’s first Last Chance Qualifier here at Birkdale on Monday …
The weather. It’s going to be sunny all day. The wind will pick up a little towards the end of the morning. Nothing particularly dramatic, but it’ll inconvenience the later starters more than the early groups, with everything pretty still at the moment.
James Nicholas putts up from the side of 1. A decent effort that limits the damage to bogey. It’s par for Matthew Baldwin, while the confident drive of Thomas Detry leads to the first birdie of the week: a wedge to eight feet, and a right-to-left slider rolled in. Mixed fortunes for the members of the opening group of the 154th Open Championship!
-1: Detry (1)
E: Baldwin (1)
+1: Nicholas (1)
James Nicholas is playing in his first Open. The 29-year-old from New York was in the opening group of the US Open last month, and ended up in a tie for 65th. After that wayward drive, he’s forced to chip out sideways from a bush, and can only find a swale to the left of the green with his third. Not the ideal start, and the very first bogey of the week is now on the cards.
The opening tee shot will be taken by Matthew Baldwin. The 40-year-old is born and Southport bred, and started playing golf at the age of three when his grandfather took him out to a local field. A huge ovation as he takes to the tee. A driving iron … and he sends it down the right-hand side of the fairway. Out of bounds on that side, but he’s nowhere near. As for his partners: Thomas Detry stripes a monster drive, while James Nicholas hooks into nonsense down the left. First tee nerves!
Preamble
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the 154th Open Championship. Who will prevail at Royal Birkdale? The reigning champion and world number one Scottie Scheffler? Rory McIlroy, long overdue a major title that isn’t the Masters? Local hero Tommy Fleetwood? Justin Rose, who wowed ‘em here as an amateur in 1998? Or … there are many ors, and we could be here all day. Actually, we will be here all day, and here’s the running order (all times BST) …
6.35 am: Matthew Baldwin, Thomas Detry, James Nicholas
6.46 am: Michael Kim, Daniel Hillier, Andy Sullivan
6.57 am: Ryan Fox, Andrew Novak, Matthew Jordan
7.08 am: Henrik Stenson, Max Homa, Joe Dean
7.19 am: Robert MacIntyre, Rickie Fowler, Alex Fitzpatrick
7.30 am: David Duval, Martin Couvra, Matthew Southgate
7.41 am: Sungjae Im, Daniel Brown, Fifa Laopakdee (a)
7.52 am: Gary Woodland, Jake Knapp, Jordan Smith
8.03 am: Francesco Molinari, Tom McKibbin, Lev Grinberg (a)
8.14 am: Hennie du Plessis, Jose Luis Ballester, Dan Bradbury
8.25 am: Angel Ayora, Victor Perez, Mateo Pulcini (a)
8.36 am: Stewart Cink, Scott Vincent, Joakim Lagergren
8.47 am: Michael Thorbjornsen, Kota Kaneko, Travis Smyth
9.03 am: Alex Smalley, Sam Stevens, Ryo Hisatsune
9.14 am: Akshay Bhatia, Harris English, Rasmus Hojgaard
9.25 am: Ben Griffin, Hideki Matsuyama, Min Woo Lee
9.36 am: Russell Henley, Justin Rose, Viktor Hovland
9.47 am: Justin Thomas, Alex Noren, Jason Day
9.58 am: Scottie Scheffler, Tyrrell Hatton, Bryson DeChambeau
10.09 am: Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm
10.20 am: Brian Harman, Si Woo Kim, Nick Taylor
10.31 am: Ryan Gerard, Maverick McNealy, David Puig
10.42 am: Kazuma Kobori, Tom Sloman, David Howard (a)
10.53 am: Antoine Rozner, Ren Yonezawa, Caleb Surratt
11.04 am: MJ Daffue, Frederic Lacroix, Jack McDonald
11.15 am: Jeongwoo Ham, Ryutaro Nagano, Alejandro De Castro Piera (a)
11.41 am: John Parry, Eric Cole, Tiger Christensen
11.52 am: Eugenio Chacarra, Matt Wallace, Max Greyserman
12.03 pm: Michael Brennan, Sahith Theegala, Laurie Canter
12.14 pm: Cameron Smith, Keith Mitchell, Stuart Grehan (a)
12.25 pm: Sepp Straka, Joaquin Niemann, Kurt Kitayama
12.36 pm: Sami Valimaki, Shaun Norris, Jackson Suber
12.47 pm: Darren Clarke, Adrien Saddier, Bernd Wiesberger
12.58 pm: Keegan Bradley, Corey Conners, Casey Jarvis
1.09 pm: Matt McCarty, Harry Hall, Haotong Li
1.20 pm: Padraig Harrington, Marco Penge, Michael Hollick
1.31 pm: Tom Kim, Billy Horschel, Mason Howell (a)
1.42 pm: Johnny Kiefer, Pierceson Coody, Keita Nakajima
1.53 pm: Aldrich Potgieter, Jesper Svansson, Jack Buchanan (a)
2.09 pm: Bud Cauley, Jayden Schaper, Lucas Herbert
2.20 pm: Kristoffer Reitan, Patrick Reed, JT Poston
2.31 pm: Chris Gotterup, Sam Burns, Adam Scott
2.42 pm: Collin Morikawa, JJ Spaun, Nicolai Hojgaard
2.53 pm: Shane Lowry, Aaron Rai, Brooks Koepka
3.04 pm: Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark, Luvig Aberg
3.15 pm: Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick
3.26 pm: Jacob Bridgeman, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Tim Wiedemeyer (a)
3.37 pm: Patrick Cantlay, Daniel Berger, Nico Echavarria
3.48 pm: Peter Uihlein, Alistair Docherty, Francesco Laporta
3.59 pm: Cameron John, Austen Truslow, Sam Bairstow
4.10 pm: Naoyuki Kataoka, Marcus Plunkett, Baard Bjoernevik Skogen
4.21 pm: Kazuki Higa, Jiho Yang, Nevill Ruiter (a)
It’s on!
