Key momentsRory McIlroy hoping to add to Masters triumph in home country of Northern IrelandShane Lowry also returns to Portrush, the site of his Open win in 2019World No1 Scottie Scheffler is bookies’ favourite to add to his PGA Championship victory
A long day ahead on the links of Royal Portrush (Stuart Fraser writes). There are a total of 156 players in the field and all start on the first tee, unlike many PGA Tour events which have some hit their opening shots on the 10th. As a result, the first group was out at 6:35am and the last group is due at 4:16pm.
It will be near darkness by the time the last group finishes, but they should be fine. To give you an idea of the timings of daylight here, I was fortunate last night to play at nearby Portstewart and hit the last putt on the 18th at 10:40pm. Granted, it would not suffice for professionals at that point, but 30 minutes shaved from that would be a reasonable cut-off.
Beers, smoking and Domino’s — the rise of Daniel Brown
The Yorkshireman had to borrow his dad’s credit card and applied to work at Tesco during the pandemic, but stunned fans at last year’s Open at Royal Troon, and is now looking to go one better after his breakthrough title on the DP World Tour. He tees off at 11.58 this morning.
Read more from Tom Kershaw here.
Brown enjoys a cigarette during a round on TikTok
Naturally the wind has started to blow just in time for the start after a benign week so far (Rick Broadbent writes). We have been under way for a couple of hours now and there has been a dash of that golden oldie magic to warm up the crowd.
Padraig Harrington had the honour of starting proceedings, albeit that meant an early alarm call for his 6.35am tee time. A sensible choice of an iron off the tee ended up with a birdie.
Then Phil Mickelson chips in from a bunker. Tom McKibbin, the 22 year-old Royal Portrush member, has had an early eagle and Nicolai Hojgaard leads. Rain, possibly thunderstorms, could make life hard for Rory McIlroy who tees off at 3.10pm.
Which Rory McIlroy will arrive at Royal Portrush?
The Northern Irishman stunned the golf world with the course record in 2005, but had a howler here six years ago. Now he’s back, having completed the career grand slam earlier this year. Can he replicate his Augusta form and win his second Open title?
Read Rick Broadbent’s full piece here.
The 2013 champion has had a decent start to the morning, with this fantastic bunker shot the highlight so far.
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Enable cookiesAllow cookies onceThe challenges of Royal Portrush
The picturesque links course on the coast of Co Antrim is notoriously difficult, with very little room for error even for the world’s best players.
To find out just how tough Calamity Corner can be, our very own Angus Oliver made his way over to Northern Ireland to check it out. Read his full piece, complete with a video of his round, here.
(All times BST)
(a) – indicates amateur
Key moments6.35am: Padraig Harrington (Ire), Nicolai Hojgaard (Nor), Tom McKibbin (N Ire)6.46am: Louis Oosthuizen (SA), Guido Migliozzi (Ita), JK Choi (S Kor)6.57am: Cameron Smith (Aus), Marco Penge (Eng), Justin Hastings (a) (Cayman Islands)7.08am: Jason Day (Aus), Taylor Pendrith (Can), Jacob Skov Olesen (Nor)7.19am: Phil Mickelson (US), Daniel Van Tonder (SA), Ryan Peake (Aus)7.30am: Max Greyserman (US), Byeong Hun An (S Kor), Niklas Norgaard (Nor)7.41am: Jordan Smith (Eng), Haotong Li (Chi), Dustin Johnson (US)7.52am: Darren Clarke (N Ire), Davis Riley (US), Lucas Herbert (Aus)8.03am: Kevin Yu (Tai), Julien Guerrier (Fra), Mikiya Akutsu (Japan)8.14am: Thomas Detry (Bel), Chris Gotterup (US), Lee Westwood (Eng)8.25am: Patrick Cantlay (US), Cameron Young (US), Mackenzie Hughes (Can)8.36am: Thorbjorn Olesen (Nor), Matthew Jordan (Eng), Filip Jakubcik (a) (Cze)8.47am: Henrik Stenson (Swe), Stephan Jaeger (Ger), Sebastian Soderberg (Swe)9.03am: Kristoffer Reitan (Nor), Martin Couvra (Fra), Adrien Saddier (Fra)9.14am: Takumi Kanaya (Japan), Justin Walters (SA), Bryan Newman (a) (SA)9.25am: Hideki Matsuyama (Japan), Ryan Fox (NZ), Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng)9.36am: Sepp Straka (Aust), Ben Griffin (US), Akshay Bhatia (US)9.47am: Sam Burns (US), Aldrich Potgieter (SA), Brooks Koepka (US)9.58am: Xander Schauffele (US), JJ Spaun (US), Jon Rahm (Spa)10.09am: Shane Lowry (Ire), Collin Morikawa (US), Scottie Scheffler (US)10.20am: Corey Conners (Can), Wyndham Clark (US), Tom Hoge (US)10.31am: Denny McCarthy (US), Nico Echevarria (Col), Patrick Reed (US)10.42am: Matti Schmid (Ger), Ryggs Johnston (US), Richard Teder (a) (Est)10.53am: Dylan Naidoo (SA), Darren Fichardt (SA), John Axelsen (Den)11.04am: Justin Suh (US), Oliver Lindell (Fin), Jesper Sandborg (Swe)11.15am: Sadom Kaewkanjana (Thai), Riki Kawamoto (Japan), Sampson Zheng (Chi)11.26am: Stewart Cink (US), Matteo Manassero (Ita), Marc Leishman (Aus)11.47am: Francesco Molinari (Ita), Jesper Svensson (Swe), Connor Graham (a) (Sco)11.58am: Zach Johnson (US), Daniel Hillier (NZ), Daniel Brown (Eng)12.09pm: Adam Scott (Aus), Rickie Fowler (US), Ethan Fang (a) (US)12.20pm: Laurie Canter (Eng), Elvis Smylie (Aus), Sergio Garcia (Spa)12.31pm: Andrew Novak (US), Matthieu Pavon (Fra), Matt Wallace (Eng)12.42pm: Davis Thompson (US), Dean Burmester (SA), Riyuka Hoshino (Japan)12.53pm: Si Woo Kim (S Kor), Shugo Imahira (Japan), Sebastian Cave (a) (Eng)1.04pm: Michael Kim (US), Bud Cauley (US), John Parry (Eng)1.15pm: Matt McCarty (US), Shaun Norris (SA), Angel Hidalgo (Spa)1.26pm: Keegan Bradley (US), Sungjae Im (S Kor), Daniel Berger (US)1.37pm: Rasmus Hojgaard (Den), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (SA), Romain Langasque (Fra)1.48pm: Aaron Rai (Eng), Sahith Theegala (US), Harry Hall (Eng)2.04pm: Justin Leonard (US), Thriston Lawrence (SA), Antoine Rosner (Fra)2.15pm: JT Poston (US), Chris Kirk (US), Carlos Ortiz (Mex)2.26pm: Brian Harman (US), Maverick McNealy (US), Joaquin Niemann (Chile)2.37pm: Russell Henley (US), Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Min Woo Lee (Aus)2.48pm: Bob MacIntyre (Sco), Bryson DeChambeau (US), Justin Rose (Eng)2.59pm: Jordan Spieth (US), Ludvig Aberg (Swe), Viktor Hovland (Nor)3.10pm: Rory McIlroy (N Ire), Justin Thomas (US), Tommy Fleetwood (Eng)3.21pm: Harris English (US), Nick Taylor (Can), Tony Finau (US)3.32pm: Lucas Glover (US), Jhonattan Vegas (Col), Tom Kim (S Kor)3.43pm: Brian Campbell (US), John Catlin (US), Frazer Jones (a) (Eng)3.54pm: Nathan Kimsey (Eng), Jason Kokrak (US), Cameron Adam (a) (Sco)4.05pm: Daniel Young (Sco), Curtis Luck (Aus), Curtis Knipes (Eng)4.16pm: Younghan Song (S Kor), George Bloor (Eng), OJ Farrell (Eng)
Hello and welcome along to the Times’ live coverage of the 153rd Open from Royal Portrush. The final major of the year promises to be a brilliant watch, with challenging conditions and a devilishly difficult course standing between the world’s finest golfers and the Claret Jug.
Rory McIlroy, the home favourite, arrives having finally completed the career grand slam at the Masters earlier this year, but he’s had a tough couple of months since. Which version of the Holywood star will turn up this weekend?
Shane Lowry, who won his only major title here in 2019, is also back, hoping to replicate his stunning 63, a course record, to add to his tally.
Follow here for all the updates, analysis and insight from our experts at Portrush.