Scottie Scheffler has made an impressive opening to the defence of his British Open title on a glorious warm morning at Royal Birkdale, taking advantage of ideal scoring conditions to challenge early at the top of the leaderboard.
Seeking to become the Open's first back-to-back winner since 2008, the world No.1 was among an early group of players on three under par for the tournament as he reached the halfway mark of his opening round in Southport on Thursday.
Playing alongside Bryson DeChambeau and Tyrrell Hatton in largely ideal windless conditions, with the breeze expected to puck up later in the day, the 30-year-old cashed in with birdies at the second third, fifth and six holes to actually be the only man out on the course at four under at that point.
But Scheffler, victor at Royal Portrush last year, slipped up at the seventh hole, dropping his first shot of the day to move back to three under, in a group of four headed by Belgium's LIV golfer Thomas Detry and European Ryder Cup star Robert MacIntyre, who had set the early clubhouse pace.
They were both overhauled, though, by some brilliance on the inward stretch from South Korean Sungjae Im, who recorded four birdies in the last nine holes, and Englishman Dan Brown, who made seven birdies on his final 11-hole stretch as they both completed their rounds with four-under 66s.
The first shot of the 154th edition had earlier been struck by 40-year-old Englishman Matthew Baldwin, a member at Royal Birkdale. He was joined by Detry and American James Nicholas in the opening game, with the 33-year-old Belgian making the best start, the bold use of the driver helping him to an opening birdie.
The in-form Min Woo Lee launched the seven-strong Australian challenge in confident fashion, making up for a bogey at the fourth with a couple of birdies in the next three holes to reach the turn at one under.
Jason Day ignited his round with a 30-foot birdie on the fifth hole, but he slipped to one over by the turn, while Travis Smyth was two over with five to play.
World No.2 Rory McIlroy was set to open his campaign in the afternoon wave, chasing his seventh major crown alongside 2024 champion Xander Schauffele and Matt Fitzpatrick.
Playing alongside Scheffler seemed to be inspiring two-time major winner DeChambeau, who, attempting to avoid an unwanted grand slam of missed cuts at this year's majors, was two under at halfway.
