Aussie veteran Adam Scott has provided the highlight of the first round so far, chipping in from the bunker on the opening hole.
Scott wasn’t happy with his second shot, which found one of the several bunkers on 1, but made up for it with a classy chip from the deep trap, which rolled into the hole.
Scott, Min Woo Lee and Jasper Stubbs are the three Aussies in the field to have teed off early in Round 1, with Elvis Smylie, Jason Day and Cam Smith to come.
Scott is one-under par, one shot behind leader Younghan Song.
Lee bogeyed the second to be one-over par after five holes.
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There was rain forecast across all four days of The Open, and a light shower is already passing through Royal Troon, just 90 minutes since the first group teed off.
We’ll have all the action covered in our live blog below!
LIVE BLOG
Follow all the Round 1 action from The Open below! If you can’t see the blog, click here!
PREVIEW AND TEE TIMES
The final men’s major of 2024 has arrived, with the 152nd Open teeing off at Royal Troon on Thursday.
Yet the tricky links course is set to pose an even tougher challenge than usual in the opening round, with typically wet and wild Scottish conditions set to wreak havoc on a field that includes six Aussie hopefuls.
The UK Meteorological Office’s official forecast for the weekend predicts rain on all four days of the tournament, with the heaviest likely to come on Saturday in the third round.
But even the opening round is set for drizzle – likely on-and-off – as well as winds of 12-15mph (19-24km/h), gusting up to 20-25mph (32-40km/h). The rain and winds are likely to be at their heaviest in the afternoon, meaning late starters could be in for some trouble.
That includes the likes of Aussie stars Jason Day and Cameron Smith, as well as stars such as Tiger Woods, world number one Scottie Scheffler, and a host of contenders including Xander Schauffele.
But with Scottish coastal weather always unpredictable, plenty of players will simply be looking at the skies and hoping for the best as they make their way around Royal Troon.
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THURSDAY’S (ROUND 1) TEE TIMES (AEST)
Players are from the USA if not stated otherwise; Aussies in bold, (x) shows amateurs
3.35pm Justin Leonard, Todd Hamilton, Jack McDonald (Sco)
3.46 Tom McKibbin (NIrl), Alex Noren (Swe), Calum Scott (Sco) (x)
3.57 Jesper Svensson (Swe), Vincent Norrman (Swe), Michael Hendry (Nzl)
4.08 Younghan Song (Kor), Daniel Hillier (Nzl), Ryosuke Kinoshita (Jpn)
4.19 Min Woo Lee (Aus), Ryo Hisatsune (Jpn), Abraham Ancer (Mex)
4.30 Nicolai Hojgaard (Den), Adam Scott (Aus), Keita Nakajima (Jpn)
4.41 Francesco Molinari (Ita), Justin Rose (Eng), Jasper Stubbs (Aus) (x)
4.52 Justin Thomas, Sungjae Im (Kor), Matthew Southgate (Eng)
5.03 Nick Taylor (Can), Matt Wallace (Eng), Laurie Canter (Eng)
5.14 Sebastian Soderberg (Swe), Matteo Manassero (Ita), Shubhankar Sharma (Ind)
5.25 Zach Johnson, Austin Eckroat, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den)
5.36 John Daly, Santiago de la Fuente (Mex) (x), Aaron Rai (Eng)
5.47 Stewart Cink, Chris Kirk, Dominic Clemons (Eng) (x)
6.03 Stephan Jaeger (Ger), Adam Schenk, Joaquin Niemann (Chl)
6.14 Adam Hadwin (Can), Lucas Glover, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa)
6.25 Tony Finau, Russell Henley, Matthieu Pavon (Fra)
6.36 Jon Rahm (Esp), Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Robert MacIntyre (Sco)
6.47 Ludvig Åberg (Swe), Bryson DeChambeau, Tom Kim
6.58 Brian Harman, Viktor Hovland (Nor), Sahith Theegala
7.09 Rory McIlroy (NIrl), Max Homa, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng)
7.20 Keegan Bradley, Will Zalatoris, Gordon Sargent (x)
7.31 Harris English, Maverick McNealy, Alexander Bjork (Swe)
7.42 Guido Migliozzi (Ita), Sean Crocker, Tommy Morrison (x)
7.53 David Puig (Esp), John Catlin, Guntaek Koh (Kor)
8.04 Thriston Lawrence (Rsa), Daniel Bradbury (Eng), Elvis Smylie (Aus)
8.15 Nacho Elvira (Esp), Minkyu Kim (Kor), Darren Fichardt (Rsa)
8.26 Mason Andersen, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn), Sam Hutsby (Eng)
8.47 Ewen Ferguson (Sco), Marcel Siem (Ger)
8.58 CT Pan (Tpe), Romain Langasque (Fra), Yuto Katsuragawa (Jpn)
9.09 Rikuya Hoshino (Jpn), Angel Hidalgo (Esp), Richard Mansell (Eng)
9.20 Corey Conners (Can), Ryan Fox (Nzl), Jorge Campillo (Esp)
9.31 Ernie Els (Rsa), Gary Woodland, Altin van der Merwe (Rsa) (x)
9.42 Henrik Stenson (Swe), Rasmus Hojgaard (Den), Jacob Skov Olesen (Den) (x)
9.53 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Billy Horschel, Victor Perez (Fra)
10.04 Sepp Straka (Aut), Brendon Todd, Jordan Smith (Eng)
10.15 Denny McCarthy, Taylor Moore, Adrian Meronk (Pol)
10.26 Jason Day (Aus), Byeong Hun An (Kor), Rickie Fowler
10.37 Alex Cejka (Ger), Eric Cole, Kurt Kitayama
10.48 Darren Clarke (NIrl), JT Poston, Dean Burmester (Rsa)
11.04 Phil Mickelson, Joost Luiten (Ned), Dustin Johnson
11.15 Padraig Harrington (Irl), Davis Thompson, Matthew Jordan (Eng)
11.26 Wyndham Clark, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Brooks Koepka
11.37 Tiger Woods, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay
11.48 Collin Morikawa, Sam Burns, Si Woo Kim (Kor)
11.59 Shane Lowry (Irl), Cameron Smith (Aus), Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng)
‘The hardest hole in the world’ | 01:04
Friday morning AEST
12.10am Jordan Spieth, Scottie Scheffler, Cameron Young
12.21 Akshay Bhatia, Tom Hoge, Sami Valimaki (Fin)
12.32 Emiliano Grillo (Arg), Ben Griffin, Mackenzie Hughes (Can)
12.43 Yannik Paul (Ger), Joe Dean (Eng), Andy Ogletree
12.54 Ryan van Velzen (Rsa), Charlie Lindh (Swe), Luis Masaveu (Esp) (x)
1.05 Kazuma Kobori (Nzl), Jaime Montojo Fernandez (Esp) (x), Liam Nolan (Irl) (x)
1.16 Daniel Brown (Eng), Denwit David Boriboonsub (Tha), Matthew Dodd-Berry (Eng) (x)
1.27 Jeunghun Wang (Kor), Aguri Iwasaki (Jpn), Sam Horsfield (Eng)
STAR FUMES AT CADDY WHACK
Shane Lowry has leapt to defend the caddie of good friend Rory McIlroy, Harry Diamond, who was heavily criticised after McIlroy’s late choke at the US Open.
McIlroy had a two shot lead on the back nine but bogeyed three of the last four holes to lose the tournament, with most of the criticism for the late collapse directed at Diamond.
Now Lowry, a two-time Ryder Cup teammate of McIlroy and Olympics teammate for Ireland in 2021, has lashed the critics.
“It makes my blood boil, to be honest,” Lowry told BBC Sport NI.
“People don’t see how hard Harry works and how good he is for Rory. Just because he’s not standing in the middle of the tee box like other caddies who want to be seen and heard doesn’t mean that his voice isn’t heard by Rory.”
“He works harder than any of the caddies out here,” he added. “He’s the best caddie for Rory. I’ll fight that with anyone that wants to. I’ll argue that with anyone who wants to argue with me.”
Source Agencies
