Tommy Fleetwood in share of lead at Open Championship, Rory McIlroy five off the pace
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Updated 20/07/2023 at 20:58 GMT
The opening day of the 151st Open Championship at Hoylake saw an amateur make the early running. Christo Lamprecht took the clubhouse lead at five-under. He was joined on that mark by Tommy Fleetwood. Rickie Fowler got a taste of the punishing closing hole as he hit two balls out of bounds and signed for an eight, but that was not the worst score on the hole.
'I believe in myself' - Amateur Lamprecht is shock early Open leader
Tommy Fleetwood secured a share of the lead after the opening round of the Open Championship, while Rory McIlroy finds himself five adrift after a mixed day.
Fleetwood, who was born around 30 miles from Hoylake and played the course on many occasions growing up, produced a masterclass in plotting his way round the 18 holes of Royal Liverpool Golf Club.
There was only one blemish, when he missed the green on the sixth and failed to get up and down, but six birdies made up for the error as he signed for a 66.
Fleetwood has had a number of near misses at the majors, often being let down by a cold putter. The flat stick worked well on Thursday, and with the other aspects of his game in good shape, the Englishman’s fans will have high hopes.
“You just want to get off to a fast start,” Fleetwood said. “It's not really been my strength recently, I have started tournaments pretty slow, so to get something going today felt really good.
“Honestly, from the fifth or sixth hole onwards it felt like I started hitting good golf shots and I had some chances, but my putts were close rolling at the hole. Just a case of finally getting on a run through there.
“Like I say, as first rounds go, that's absolutely the one you wanted, and to get off to a good start feels good.”
McIlroy was among the late starters, and he got round in 71 - rescuing his round to a large extent on the back nine.
He was a little awry off the tee early in his round, missed a tiddler for par on the eighth, and dropped to two-over after 12 holes.
He birdied 14 and 15 to get to level par, and made a remarkable par save on 18.
After his second shot finished against the face of a bunker, he was unable to get out at the first attempt. His ball dropped into his own footmarks to leave him with a torrid fourth. He played a stunning shot, with one foot out of the sand for balance, and holed the putt to walk off at level-par.
“It is a solid start,” McIlroy said. “I wouldn’t mind being a couple lower, but I’ll take it.”
Reflecting on his bunker issues on 18, McIlroy said: “It was really good in the end.
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“These bunkers are really tough. It does not seem to ever go in the middle of them and you are always up against the face. I actually got lucky as it could have gone into a deeper part of my footprint and I might have been there all night.
"It was great to get away with a five, that was a big putt at the end.”
Christo Lamprecht was an unknown when he stepped on the first tee. 18 holes later, the golfing world took note of his big-hitting ways as he went round in 66 blows to share the clubhouse lead.
Emiliano Grillo also got to five-under late in the day. Players in contention on Sunday evening would pay good money for the Argentinian's birdie-birdie finish.
First Round Leaderboard
- T1. Tommy Fleetwood, five-under
- T1. Christo Lamprecht, five-under
- T1. Emiliano Grillo, five-under
- T4. Antoine Rozner, four-under
- T4. Adrian Otaegui, four-under
- T4. Brian Harman, four-under
- T7. Stewart Cink, three-under
- T7. Wyndham Clark, three-under
- T7. Alex Noren, three-under
- T7. Max Homa, three-under
- T7. Shubhankar Sharma, three-under
- T7. Michael Stewart, three-under
Rickie Fowler returned to the winners’ circle for the first time in over four years earlier in the month, and he was well placed stood on the 18th tee. But he learned the hard way how tough it could be to close things out on Sunday, as he hit two balls out of bounds and signed for an eight as he carded a 72 to finish at one-over.
Matthew Jordan had the honour of hitting the opening tee shot of the 151st Open, and the Hoylake member thrilled his legion of fans with a round of 69 to sit nicely at two-under, the same figure as Jordan Spieth who looked good for much of his round.
Justin Thomas has had a torrid time in the majors this year, with two missed cuts and a tied-65th at the US PGA Championship. He looks certain to miss the cut on Friday, after carding a round of 82. His day was summed up by going from bunker to bunker on the 18th, then being forced to play out sideways as he made nine on the final hole.
Jon Rahm was in the same group as McIlroy and the Spaniard had a tough day.
On many resort courses bunkers are no threat to professionals. On Links venues such as Hoylake, they are. Rahm found that out the hard way on the 12th. After his tee shot found the sand in a pot bunker, he had no option other than to play out backwards and it resulted in a bogey.
There was a repeat on the 18th, as Rahm had to play backwards from a greenside bunker which resulted in another bogey - as he finished at three-over.
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