Genesis Scottish Open Round 1: Four-Way Tie at the Top as the Wind Bites in North Berwick

Links golf rewards the players who can keep the ball under the wind and keep their heads when it pushes back. On a blustery Thursday at The Renaissance Club, four of them did it well enough to share the lead.

Jake Knapp, Sepp Straka, Nico Echavarria and Victor Perez each shot 6-under 64 to sit atop the Genesis Scottish Open after the opening round in North Berwick. Four more players sit one shot back at 5 under: Calum Hill, Marcel Siem, Matti Schmid and Marco Penge. Scottie Scheffler is three back after a 67, and Rory McIlroy salvaged a 68 that looked a lot worse for most of the afternoon. According to the DP World Tour, which co-sanctions the event with the PGA TOUR, 28 players are within three shots.

Four Ways to 64

The four co-leaders took very different roads to the same number.

Knapp was the only one of the four to keep a clean card. In his first trip to Scotland, he birdied the 1st and 3rd, poured in a 45-foot putt on the 4th and added birdies on the 14th and 15th. Knapp skipped this event as a rookie a year ago after a heavy early schedule that included his Mexico Open win in February, and he only landed in the country on Monday.

Straka had the most eventful card. The Austrian Ryder Cup winner piled up eight birdies, including a run of three straight from the 3rd through the 5th, and briefly got to 7 under. Two bogeys pulled Straka back before a chip-in on the 8th, the final hole of the round, restored a share of the lead.

Echavarria set the clubhouse target early. A dropped shot at the 2nd was the only blemish, and birdies at the 4th, 7th, 10th, 14th, 15th and 16th carried the Colombian to 6 under.

Perez was the only afternoon starter to get there. The Frenchman, who lives in Dundee and has not won since the 2023 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, birdied the 14th, 15th and 16th, then closed with a 25-foot birdie on the 18th, a putt that played straight into the wind.

Scheffler's Fast Start, Slow Finish

The world No. 1 announced himself on his very first hole, holing a 30-foot eagle putt to open his week. From there, Scheffler spent the day giving away chances, missing several birdie putts from inside 10 feet on the way to a 3-under 67.

"I feel like I could have gotten a little bit more out of my round," Scheffler said, per the AP.

Scheffler skipped this event a year ago to spend time with his newborn son. Three back on a day like this is nowhere near a crisis.

McIlroy Finds a Finish

For most of the afternoon, McIlroy looked like a player still shaking off two weeks away from competition. He hit only four of 13 fairways and struggled to control the ball off the tee in the wind. The 5th was a mess, with a tee shot that stopped short of a wall and forced a sideways chip back to the fairway. The 15th was worse. His tee shot found a bunker, a 9-iron failed to clear the steep lip and rolled back into a depression, and a wedge then ran over the back of the green. McIlroy had to hole a 25-footer just to escape with bogey.

That putt changed the day. McIlroy birdied the final three holes, including a 25-footer on the 17th and a 20-footer on the 18th, to post 2-under 68.

"So to only be four behind after the first day, feeling like I've still got my best stuff ahead of me, that feels good," McIlroy said, per the AP.

Defending Open champion Xander Schauffele, who played alongside McIlroy, also shot 68. So did defending Scottish Open champion Robert MacIntyre, whose round included a nervy moment on the 12th when a tee shot he feared was out of bounds turned up in play. MacIntyre still made bogey there after missing a birdie chance on the par-5 10th.

The Chasers Worth Watching

Viktor Hovland quietly posted his first bogey-free round at this event, a 66 that has him in a group at 4 under alongside Wyndham Clark, Tom Kim, Ryan Fox and Keith Mitchell. Ludvig Åberg opened with a 67. Chris Gotterup, a New Jersey native whose only previous links experience was a missed cut at this event a year ago, began with a 68 and sits four back.

Next Week Is Already in Play

This week carries an extra prize. The Open Championship at Royal Portrush is next week, and the leading three players at The Renaissance Club who are not already exempt get spots in it.

That matters to Knapp, who is not yet in the field and whose current itinerary has him flying to Boston on Monday and then home to California. "As of right now," Knapp said, per the AP. "Hopefully, I can change that." Perez is also not set for Portrush, which makes Thursday's 64 worth more than a share of the lead to both.

What Friday Brings

Thursday made it clear that the wind sets the terms here. More than half of the 156-man field shot par or better, and three of the four co-leaders, Knapp, Echavarria and Perez, all birdied the 14th and 15th. Patience into the breeze and aggression on that stretch was the formula. With this many names stacked together, one calm wave on Friday could reshuffle everything.

For the history and the storylines coming into the week, read our Genesis Scottish Open preview. Full scoring is on the official PGA TOUR leaderboard (opens in a new tab), and the TOUR's Round 1 recap (opens in a new tab) has more.

Sources: PGA TOUR (Round 1 recap and leaderboard), AP, DP World Tour. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.