British Open: Five share lead after first round as Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy lurk

ASSOCIATED PRESS

What do Jacob Skov Olesen, Haotong Li, Matt Fitzpatrick, Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Harris English have in common? Well, aside from the fact that you probably wouldn’t know most of them if they were sitting right next to you … they’re all leading the British Open at -4 after the tournament’s first day at Royal Portrush. It's the second-highest number of co-leaders after the first round in Open history, after 1938's six. 

Names with a few more majors to their credit lurked not far behind. Scottie Scheffler, despite having little experience with links golf, is just a single stroke back at -3, along with Matthew Jordan, Tyrrell Hatton and Sadom Kaewkanjana, an ordained monk who’s bringing a bit of serenity to his golf game.

Hometown favorite Rory McIlroy struggled through an up-and-down day to finish reasonably strong at -1, three strokes off the lead. 

"I had it going 3-under through 10 and let a few slip there around the middle of the round," McIlroy said afterward. "I steadied the ship well, played the last four at 1-under, and it was nice to shoot under par."

McIlroy finished level with Jon Rahm and 2019 Open champion Shane Lowry, still carrying fond memories of his Portrush victory six years ago.

“Obviously days like today, you can really play your way out of a tournament,” Lowry said. “So it was nice to play my way into it today.”

Also at -1: none other than Phil Mickelson, one of many notable names of the past who popped up high on the leaderboard at one point or another over the course of the day. Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Justin Leonard and Zach Johnson all brought a bit of nostalgia to the first round.

"It's always super special walking down 18," Garcia said. "Even today where it wasn't packed, still it's always very, very special. It's one of those things, one of those memories that always stay with you when you come here."

Weather-wise, Portrush got a bit of the rain, a bit of the wind that makes British Opens so enjoyable to watch, if not play. But for the most part, Royal Portrush was gettable, at least for the couple dozen players who finished under par. The pros clearly enjoyed their day out there, otherwise why would they stay out there for rounds that lasted nearly six freaking hours?

“It was a little on the slow side,” Aaron Rai said after his round. “But naturally with the challenging condition, the challenging course, pace of play is going to be a little bit slower than normal.”

“You get to the tee, and there's groups on the tee,” Keegan Bradley said. “I mean, what do you do? I don't know what you would do.”

Low on the leaderboard, unfortunately, is Bryson DeChambeau, who continues to struggle on links courses. He finished at +7, just four strokes ahead of last place. Also buried: Brooks Koepka, who finished at +4 and is a long, long way from his major championship form.

For the players able to navigate Portrush's peaks and valleys, Thursday was a reminder that at its best, links golf is the purest test of the game's skill. 

"I like this golf course. I think it's a very fair test," Fitzpatrick said. "It rewards good golf shots. I think sometimes links doesn't do that to you, and there's plenty of courses that we play or I've played at links golf that don't necessarily do that. But I think this is a fantastic golf course."

He and his four other co-leaders, along with the rest of the field, will be right back at it on Friday morning.