The Open Round 1: Five Share the Lead at Royal Portrush as Scheffler Lurks One Back

Royal Portrush threw sunshine, sideways rain and a stiff wind at the 153rd Open Championship on Thursday, and when the last groups trudged in after rounds that crept toward six hours, nobody had managed to separate from anybody.

Five players from five countries share the lead at 4-under 67: Matt Fitzpatrick of England, Harris English of the United States, Li Haotong of China, Christiaan Bezuidenhout of South Africa and Denmark's Jacob Skov Olesen. Per the AP, it is the biggest pileup at the top of this championship since 1938. Lurking one shot back at 3-under 68 is the man nobody wants to see lurking: world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, alongside Tyrrell Hatton, Matthew Jordan and Sadom Kaewkanjana. Thirty-one players finished under par on a par-71 course that changed personality by the hour.

Five Flags, One Number

The leaders got to 67 in very different ways. Fitzpatrick, the 2022 U.S. Open champion, eagled the second and then produced the highlight of the day at the 16th, the par 3 known as Calamity Corner. From well below the green on the right, his chip flew straight into the cup without touching the putting surface. Fitzpatrick conceded there was some luck involved.

Olesen was the story of the morning. The Dane came through qualifying ranked 354th in the world, according to Reuters, opened with a 40-foot birdie putt on the first, and eagled the 12th to climb to 5 under before a bogey at the last pulled the number back to four. Li was the tidiest of the group, posting a bogey-free card that included a 10-foot par save on the 18th. Li finished third at Royal Birkdale in 2017, so links golf is not a foreign language. Bezuidenhout made an eagle at the 12th to join the party.

English might have the best backstory of the five. His longtime caddie could not get a travel visa for the UK, so English put his short-game coach on the bag and made seven birdies, per the AP.

Scheffler Gets Comfortable

Scheffler's 68 deserves its own paragraph, and probably a few more. He hit just three fairways, which sounds like a disaster on a links course, and he still walked off one shot out of the lead. He made five birdies against bogeys at the ninth and 11th, and the finish was vintage: a 4-iron to 3 feet at the 16th for birdie, a birdie at the 17th, and a par at the last.

When reporters pressed him about the missed fairways, Scheffler pushed back on the premise and pointed at the weather. "When it's raining sideways, believe it or not (it's) not that easy to get the ball in the fairway," he said, per the AP. Scheffler has not finished outside the top 10 in four months, and DataGolf numbers cited by The Washington Post had him gaining roughly four shots with his approach play. He is still chasing his first Claret Jug, and this is about as good a starting position as he could have drawn up.

Rory's Homecoming Survives a Wobble

The loudest galleries belonged to Rory McIlroy, playing his home Open as the reigning Masters champion and the newest member of the career Grand Slam club. Six years ago at this same course, his Open went sideways on the very first hole and he never recovered. This time he bogeyed the first.

McIlroy steadied with birdies at the second and fifth, wobbled again with three bogeys in a four-hole stretch, then birdied the 17th to sign for a 1-under 70. He hit only two fairways. "Certainly dealt with it better than I did six years ago," McIlroy said, per the AP. Three back is a perfectly reasonable place for a homecoming hero after day one.

Shane Lowry, the last man to lift the Claret Jug at Portrush in 2019, also shot 70. Lowry said the 11th was the worst possible hole to be standing on when the weather turned, a reminder of how much Thursday came down to timing.

Old Guard, Bad Days

Some veterans looked right at home. Justin Rose, 44, played a bogey-free 69. Lee Westwood, 52 and back in the field through qualifying, matched that 69. Phil Mickelson, the 2013 champion at 55, briefly sat alone at the top of the board at 2 under before back-nine bogeys dropped him to a 70, one of a large group at 1 under that also includes Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia and Sam Burns. Lucas Glover was tied for the lead before two early back-nine bogeys and settled for 69.

Defending champion Xander Schauffele mixed birdies and bogeys for an even-par 71. Not everyone escaped that cleanly. Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, Ludvig Åberg and reigning U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun all shot 73, and Collin Morikawa and Brooks Koepka each signed for 75. For them, Friday is about the cut line first.

What Friday Brings

Eighteen holes in, the board is crowded and the weather is still the most important player in the field. A one-shot gap covers nine players, and 19 are within two. The 36-hole cut will thin it out, and the draw could matter again if the wind and rain pick their spots the way they did Thursday.

The five leaders have a share of something. Scheffler has the position. McIlroy has the crowd. Friday decides which of those advantages is worth the most.

Need a refresher on who made it to Portrush and how? Our full field breakdown for the 153rd Open has every qualifier and exemption. For more detail on Thursday, see the PGA TOUR's Round 1 recap (opens in a new tab).

Sources: PGA TOUR (AP Round 1 recap), Reuters, Golf Channel leaderboard, The Washington Post. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.