Key events<\/p>\n
Alex Smalley made his first big splash at a major a couple of months ago at Aronimink. A tie for second at the PGA, three shots behind Aaron Rai, and the 29-year-old from Greensboro, North Carolina appears to have acquired a taste for it. Having opened with birdie, he steers in a 20-foot left-to-right swinger on 2 for another, and he\u2019s bothering the top of the leaderboard in short order.<\/p>\n
-3: Detry (13)
-2: A Fitzpatrick (9), Smalley (2)
-1: Sullivan (12), Stenson (10), MacIntyre (9), Molinari (5), Lagergren (4)<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n An outrageous opening par for Rasmus H\u00f8jgaard. He hoicks his first shot of the week into a bush down the left. Forced to take a penalty drop, he then cracks his second from 266 yards to the fringe at the back of the green. Then he pours in a 30-footer for the great escape. He wanders off the green with a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Scottie Scheffler will begin the defence of his title in exactly 30 minutes. The clock\u2019s ticking for us all.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n An egregious error from Robert MacIntyre at 8. A four-footer for par pulled right. Never dropping! Having raced it three feet past \u2013 and then looked around, eyes darting this way and that, as if to find a culprit because he surely didn\u2019t do that himself – he does well to gather himself and tidy up for bogey. But he drops back to -1.<\/p>\n -3: Detry (11) Share<\/a><\/p>\n The 2009 winner Stewart Cink opens with a triple-bogey seven. Birkdale doesn\u2019t always roll the red carpet out to former champions.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Movement at the toppermost of the poppermost (to borrow a phrase from four fab local lads of old). Thomas Detry chops a wedge from an awkward position to the right of the 10th green to four feet, and makes the birdie putt. Meanwhile Alex Fitzpatrick gets what he deserves this time, walking in a 20-footer on the par-three 7th.<\/p>\n -3: Detry (10) Early leader Thomas Detry. Photograph: Greig Cowie\/ShutterstockShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a004.10 EDT<\/p>\n There are ten amateurs teeing it up at Birkdale this week. One of them, Mateo Pulcini, has just parred the 1st and receives a lovely smattering of applause. And why not? The 25-year-old Latin America Amateur Championship winner is a cheery sort. But he is from Argentina \u2026 and it\u2019s less than 12 hours since \u2026 well, y\u2019know<\/a> \u2026 but the Open gallery is always respectful and knowledgeable, and just in case there\u2019s one idiot \u2026<\/p>\n Argentina’s Mateo Pulcini wears his favourite shoes. Photograph: Andrew Boyers\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a004.11 EDT<\/p>\n If anyone this week hits a better putt than the one Alex Fitzpatrick has just taken on 6, they\u2019ll be doing well. And he didn\u2019t even hole it. From the front of the par-four 6th green, it\u2019s a big left-to-right swinger from 57 feet, almost off the side of the putting surface, over a hump, taking an almost 90-degree right-turn and rolling to a couple of inches. He taps in for par, which he\u2019d have eagerly taken before actually making the stroke, but oh my that deserved to drop. Matt\u2019s younger brother \u2026 well, at some point we\u2019re going to have to stop referring to him as Matt\u2019s younger brother, because he\u2019s emerging as a talent in his own right. He\u2019s -1, having cancelled out bogey at 2 with birdies at 4 and 5.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Matthew Jordan has got history at the Open, with back-to-back top-ten finishes in 2023 and 2024. The first of those was particularly memorable, as it came at his home club of Hoylake, where he was given the honour of hitting the opening shot. He might want to forget the early moments of this Open, however: three consecutive bogeys, at 3, 4 and 5, followed by a triple-bogey seven at the par-four 6th. A quick clatter down the leaderboard to the very bottom at +6.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u2026 and another birdie for Thomas Detry, who walks in a 15-footer on 8. That street-fighting bogey on 6 looks even more precious now. Joe Dean meanwhile passes up a chance to join the leaders by missing an eight-footer at 5.<\/p>\n -2: Detry (8), MacIntyre (4) Share<\/a><\/p>\n Bounceback birdie for Thomas Detry! The 151-yard par-three 7th is the shortest hole on the course, but the tee is well above a green surrounded by bunkers, so when the wind\u2019s up, trouble\u2019s afoot. Thankfully for the early starters, the wind is very much not up, so Detry is able to guide his tee shot to eight feet, and smoothly stroke in the putt. Meanwhile birdie for Joe Dean at 4. Despite the benign conditions, there are only four players under par \u2026 although admittedly there are only 24 out on the course at the moment.<\/p>\n -2: MacIntyre (3) Share<\/a><\/p>\n Padraig Harrington, who won here in 2008, describes the 514-yard left-to-right par-four 6th as \u201cprobably the toughest hole on the front nine\u201d. Thomas Detry tries his level best to prove that, zig-zagging his way up it like the Keystone Kops: thick rough on the right, more rough down the left, a native area on the right. He then wedges out from 55 yards to 15 feet, and nails the bogey putt. That could have been so much worse, but he\u2019s back to level par, as is his playing partner Matthew Baldwin, who also bogeys.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u2026 and so that\u2019s two English players in red figures already. Who cares about football anyway?<\/a> Here\u2019s Sean Ingle on how Southgate, Baldwin, Fleetwood, Fitzpatrick et al are trying to land England\u2019s first home win since Tony Jacklin in 1969.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Matthew Southgate finished in sixth place here at Birkdale in 2017, thanks to a spectacular weekend\u2019s work: 67-65. The 37-year-old from Southend clearly likes this place, because he\u2019s started by draining a putt on 1 from Bob MacIntyre Country. The local lad Matthew Baldwin meanwhile birdies 5 \u2026 but he\u2019s not got a share of the lead, because the aforementioned MacIntyre sticks his second at 2 from 172 yards to a foot and a half, and that\u2019s a birdie-birdie start for last year\u2019s US Open runner-up.<\/p>\n -2: MacIntyre (2) Share<\/a><\/p>\n Bob Mac aside, it\u2019s 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 \u2026<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 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\u2019s finest already has three top-ten finishes at the Open on his resum\u00e9, including a tie for seventh at Portrush last year. Keep an eye out.<\/p>\n -1: Detry (4), MacIntyre (1)<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u2026 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\u2019s 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\u2019s already got a competitive round at Birkdale under his belt this week, so he\u2019ll look to hit the ground running.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 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. \u201cYou owe me a tonne of beer,\u201d Oosthuizen messaged. \u201cWe\u2019ll get that sorted for him,\u201d Potgieter promised. The young big-hitting Potgieter will be out later, but as for the guy who pipped him at the Open\u2019s first Last Chance Qualifier here at Birkdale on Monday \u2026<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The weather. It\u2019s going to be sunny all day. The wind will pick up a little towards the end of the morning. Nothing particularly dramatic, but it\u2019ll inconvenience the later starters more than the early groups, with everything pretty still at the moment.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n James Nicholas putts up from the side of 1. A decent effort that limits the damage to bogey. It\u2019s 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!<\/p>\n -1: Detry (1) Share<\/a><\/p>\n 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 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 \u2026 and he sends it down the right-hand side of the fairway. Out of bounds on that side, but he\u2019s nowhere near. As for his partners: Thomas Detry stripes a monster drive, while James Nicholas hooks into nonsense down the left. First tee nerves!<\/p>\n
-2: A Fitzpatrick (8)
-1: Hillier (10), Stenson (8), MacIntyre (8), Perez (2)<\/p>\n
-2: MacIntyre (7), A Fitzpatrick (7)<\/p>\n
-1: Hillier (7), Stenson (5), Homa (5), Dean (5), Southgate (3), J Smith (2)<\/p>\n
-1: Detry (7), Dean (4), Southgate (2)<\/p>\n
-1: Baldwin (5), Detry (5), Southgate (1)<\/p>\n
E: Baldwin (1)
+1: Nicholas (1)<\/p>\n