he Open 2024: first round updates – live
July 18, 2024
Eagle for Matt Wallace on 4! Wedging in from the semi-rough, 85 yards out, his ball takes a skip and a hop on the green, landing a few inches behind the cup and spinning back in. A tie for third at the 2019 apart, the 34-year-old Englishman doesn’t have much of a record in the majors. Early doors, of course, but with Song tidying up for his birdie on the Postage Stamp, look at this now …
Younghan Song is on a roll. He earned his spot at the Open with a second-place finish at the Korea Open, and knocks his second at 7 to ten feet. He steers in the left-to-right swinger for his third birdie of the morning to take sole possession of the lead … then sends his tee shot at the famous par-three 8th pin high to four feet. Big chance for another birdie coming up.
Alex Noren sinks a 40-footer on 9 to hit the turn in 34 strokes. He joins Younghan Song and Nicolai Hojgaard at -2 … as does Justin Thomas with birdie at 5. Meanwhile the extremely promising Northern Irish youngster Tom McKibbin birdies the Postage Stamp to move into the red. It is, to borrow a phrase from popular comedian Danny Boon, all happening.
News of another amateur, Santiago de la Fuente: the 22-year-old Mexican drains a 30-footer on 1 that would still be going had it not hit the cup. A confident stroke and no mistake. He’s joined at -1 by his playing partner Aaron Rai, who only made it into the field with a high finish at last week’s Scottish Open. The 29-year-old from Wolverhampton could be one to watch this week: his tie for fourth last week follows this run on the PGA Tour: T14, T19, T2, T7. He’s in the groove right now and a third career victory is beginning to feel overdue.
Nicolai Hojgaard birdies the par-five 4th to join Younghan Song at -2. Meanwhile the Postage Stamp offers up its first birdie of the week, the 20-year-old Scottish amateur Calum Scott licking it on his Open debut. Scott moves alongside his namesake Adam at -1.
A flurry of birdies shakes things up at the top. Alex Noren at 7. His compatriot Jesper Svensson at 6. Matt Wallace raking a long one across 2. Sungjae Im with a well-worked-out chip-in at 3 that makes use of the right-to-left camber of the green. The rain has stopped and moods around Troon are lifting.
Justin Rose makes birdie at the third time of asking. This time his putt drops, at 3. The birdie’s reward for a glorious approach from 125 yards to four feet. That hole-out on 18 at Birkdale seems an awfully long time ago, doesn’t it? Well, that’s because it is. 1998! The reigning champ that year was Justin Leonard … who has just made three bogeys and a double in his last four holes. He’s propping up the entire field right now at +6.
Alex Noren carelessly drives into a fairway bunker at 6, a mistake that leads to bogey. He drops back to level par. His red-hued spot on the leader board is taken up by Justin Thomas, the two-time PGA champion, currently out of sorts, chipping in from the side of 2.
“A 9.36am start for Bob after four nights on the lash?” splutters Simon McMahon. “Did somebody not have a word with the organising committee? Please tell me he’s been spotted on the driving range, can in hand, and Lloyd Mangrum style tab between his lips.” He’s currently on the putting green. No tinnies. No smokes. Back to work, and grafting hard. Andy Bull has the latest.
… but while we’re on the subject of the heroic Lloyd Mangrum, it’d be rude not to spark this one up again.
… and now Rose nearly drains a 30-footer on 2. A couple of inches here and there, and he’d have opened his bid with back-to-back birdies. But he has to settle for a pair of pars. Of the 24 early starters, only five are in red figures.
Nicolai Hojgaard chips in from the side of 2. The 23-year old Dane joins the group at -1. Meanwhile a great opportunity for an opening birdie for Justin Rose, but the 2013 US Open champion doesn’t hit his fairly straight eight-footer on 1, the ball dying off to the right on its last turn. Par.
Back-to-back birdies for Younghan Song. The latest at 3, and he hits the front on his own. Alex Noren stays on his tail with birdie at the first par-five, the 4th. The 2018 champ Francesco Molinari opens with birdie. But it’s a lip-out from five feet at 3 for Ryosuke Kinoshita, who slips off the early pace.
A horror start for Jasper Stubbs. The 22-year-old Australian amateur won the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship last year in something of an upset, ranked as he was 476th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. The victory earned him spots at this year’s Masters and here at Troon. Having missed the cut at Augusta, he now carves his opening tee shot out of bounds down the right. Par with his second ball, but that’s a double to start. It begins to rain, in tune with the young man’s mood.
Adam Scott came so close to lifting the Claret Jug in 2012. It wasn’t to be, and those closing four bogeys at Lytham will have left a scar. He had the Scottish Open snatched from under his nose last week by Bob MacIntyre, too. But there’s little that vexes the genial Aussie too much, and here he his holing out from one of the deep bunkers guarding 1. An opening birdie, and while there are 71 holes still to play, we’re allowed to dream. It’s free.
-1: Song (2), Kinoshita (2), Scott (1)
Kinoshita threatens to hand back his birdie at 2. A timid tee shot leaves him 200 yards out, and he carves his second into thick rough to the right of the green. But he bumps a chip to a couple of feet and scrambles his par. He’s going round with Younghan Song, the 33-year-old from South Korea making his second start at the Open after a tie for 62nd at Birkdale in 2017. Song sends his second from similar distance to five feet, and tidies up for his birdie.
Ryosuke Kinoshita has the honour of carding the first birdie of the 2024 Open. The 33-year-old from Japan rakes in a long putt across 1 to hit the top of the standings. Whatever happens now, he’ll always be able to say he once led the Open. Meanwhile up on 3, Tom McKibbin makes the second, steering in a right-to-left slider from 15 feet to return to level par.
The bunkers claim their first victim of the week. Well that didn’t take long. Todd Hamilton sends his second at 3 into a deep trap. His first attempt to escape rockets off the hosel and slams into the face, and he’s forced to turn sideways and bash out in a huff. That leads to a triple bogey. Hamilton won’t be the last. Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson will be wondering why this fate didn’t befall him 20 years ago.
Michael Hendry sends his opening shot down the track. The 36-year-old from New Zealand qualified for Hoylake last year, but was prevented from teeing it up after a leukemia diagnosis. Thankfully he’s back to health and competing this week, having been granted a medical exemption by the R&A. Par to start. He’s going round with Jesper Svensson, who nearly begins his Open debut in perfect fashion, sending his second at 1 from 131 yards to five feet … but he can’t make the putt. We’re still looking for our first birdie of the week.
The first dropped shots of the week. Todd Hamilton and Jack McDonald aren’t able to get up and down at 2. Justin Leonard splashes out to six feet, though, and remains at level par. Back on 1, Tom McKibbin nearly makes the first birdie of the championship, but his putt shaves the hole and on we go.
Opening pars for Justin Leonard, Todd Hamilton and Jack McDonald. But the two erstwhile champions find pot bunkers on 2, while McDonald flies the green. It’s going to be a long day; chances are we’ll love it more than quite a few members of the field. Still, for what it’s worth – and that is next to the square root of absolutely nothing at all – here’s the first leaderboard of the week.
E: Leonard (1), Hamilton (1), McDonald (1)
The weather forecast. It’s Scotland, it’s the Open, it’s changeable. There are outbreaks of rain and drizzle expected throughout the day, and there’s a fresh breeze. The wind’s against on the front nine, but it should help coming home along the more testing back nine, so there’s a good chance of a score in the mid-60s for anyone who keeps it straight. Avoid those pot bunkers, now!
Here we go, then … and the 1997 champion Justin Leonard cracks the opening tee shot of this year’s Open down the middle. He could sell that for cash money to the leaders on Sunday afternoon. The 2004 winner Todd Hamilton follows him down there. And finally, making it three fine strokes, 31-year-old Jack McDonald of nearby Kilmarnock, making his Open debut. The nerves will have been jangling, so everyone strides off wearing a relieved smile.
Preamble
It’s the 152nd Open Championship, and the tenth to be contested on the famous Ayrshire links of Royal Troon. The ninth saw Henrik Stenson hold off Phil Mickelson in what is generally considered to be, with the honourable exception of 1977’s legendary duel in the sun between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus at Turnberry, the finest mano-a-mano affair in the Open’s long and illustrious history. No pressure, then, everyone!
Here are today’s tee times (Britain and Ireland unless stated, all times local, a denotes amateur). Brian Harman begins the defence of his title just before 10am, by which time the recently crowned Scottish Open champion Bob MacIntyre will already be out on the course, high on life, as will Ludvig Åberg, Jon Rahm and the newly loveable Bryson DeChambeau. Rory McIlroy will be along soon after, but we’ll have to wait until the afternoon for the world number one Scottie Scheffler and Tiger. Anyway, pick your favourite out of this lot, pour yourself a strong cup of tea, kick back for the next four days of golfing bliss and ENJOY. It’s on!
