Southport (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Scottie Scheffler made a strong start to his defence of the British Open to sit just one off the clubhouse lead of four under par following his opening front nine at Royal Birkdale. The American was more at home under glorious sunshine and scorching temperatures on England’s north-west coast than at last week’s fog-disrupted Scottish Open, where the world number one saw his record of 78 successive cuts made, dating back four years, come to an end.
Scheffler stated that getting some extra rest before a major is “never the worst thing, but I really hate missing cuts.” He stormed to victory at Royal Portrush last year, ending any doubt about his ability to adapt to the links conditions on the other side of the Atlantic. However, Scheffler has endured a frustrating year by his high standards, securing only one win on the PGA Tour back in January and failing to add to his four majors.
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The world number one bounced back with four birdies in five holes between the second and the sixth, but a first dropped shot of the tournament at seven brought him back to three under. Fellow American Bryson DeChambeau is also at three under par with six holes remaining in his opening round. England’s Daniel Brown and South Korean Im Sung-jae set the clubhouse lead at four under, while Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre made a strong start with a three-under par round of 67.
The world number 15 has never won a major, but he has finished in the top 10 at the British Open three times in six attempts. “If I won an Open, won any major, if something happened, I could happily walk away from the game of golf,” said MacIntyre. “It would be all my goals that I ever dreamed of complete if I did that, but there’s a long way to go.”
Tommy Fleetwood is also looking to end his wait for a major win in his hometown of Southport. Despite fervent support as the world number nine, he got off to a steady but unspectacular start with just one birdie and one bogey in his opening 10 holes.
Rory McIlroy begins his challenge for a first Claret Jug since he won the tournament for the only time back in 2014 in the afternoon’s marquee group alongside 2024 winner Xander Schauffele and world number three Matt Fitzpatrick at 3:15 pm local time (14:15 GMT).
© 2024 AFP
