The opening round of The Open Championship threw up a number of major talking points, with Phil Mickelson and Jon Rahm both in the headlines for different reasons
As the rain poured and the wind howled at Royal Portrush on Thursday, the world’s top golfers grappled with the unpredictable conditions. The Open Championship leaderboard at the end of round one demonstrated the challenge as 44 players finished within four shots of the lead.
Only five men had the privilege of being four under par. Jacob Skov Olesen, Haotong Li, Matt Fitzpatrick, Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Harris English all completed the course in 67 shots.
Rory McIlroy, one of several participants to have previously lifted the Claret Jug, was prepared to confront his past demons from six years ago but had a mixed first day. However, the Northern Irishman managed to play the final four holes in one-under par, edging himself three shots off the peak by the end of the action, leaving his fans reasonably satisfied.
With Scottie Scheffler, Justin Rose, Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele all well positioned heading into Friday’s action, we bring you a summary of all the latest major talking points.
Mickelson’s true colours, reports the Mirror.
Phil Mickelson demonstrated his class by giving a signed glove and ball to his playing partner Ryan Peake after they competed together in the opening round on Thursday. Peake, a former Australian biker gang member, earned his place in The Open after winning the New Zealand Open earlier this year, which gave him the opportunity to play alongside one of golf’s greats in LIV Golf star Mickelson.
Having served a five-year prison sentence for serious assault before his release in 2019, he had worked hard to revive his golfing career. Despite admitting that the challenging conditions at Royal Portrush had taken a toll on him, the 31 year old still experienced a thrilling moment with the six-time major champion.
After spending the first day of the tournament alongside Mickelson, Peake recounted: “It was pretty good. I just asked for his golf ball and got him to sign a golf glove for me after.
“I grabbed his putter off him a few times and had a little feel of it. That’s the OG; that’s the one from the Masters. There were a couple of cool things.
“His caddie gave away golf balls as we were walking off the tee, and I yelled out, ‘What about me?’, and he had a laugh. He thought I was being sarcastic.
“He said, ‘Are you serious?’, and I said, ‘I’m deadly serious’. I said, ‘Can you sign a glove as well?’ He’s your hero growing up. My old boy is out here this week, and he loves him as well.”
McIlroy on the crowd’s support.
As McIlroy embarked on his quest for a sixth major, he felt the adoration of an entire nation. Initially, he received a warm welcome from the spectators gathered in the grandstand, and upon his return to Royal Portrush, he was met with thunderous applause from his home fans.
When questioned about the support he received around the course, McIlroy responded: “Yeah, absolutely incredible. Look, I feel the support of an entire country out there, which is a wonderful position to be in, but at the same time, you don’t want to let them down. So there’s that little bit of added pressure.
“I felt like I dealt with it really well today. Certainly dealt with it better than I did six years ago. I was just happy to get off to a good start and get myself into the tournament.
“I was sort of surprised – there’s a few guys at 4-under, but I’m surprised 4-under is leading. I thought someone might have gone out there and shot 6 or 7 today. Only three back with 54 holes to go, I’m really happy with where I am.”
Rahm speaks after outburst.
Jon Rahm was left seething with a spectator in The Open crowd after hearing a whistle during his backswing midway through the opening round. Despite playing some impressive golf on day one, the Spaniard lost his temper and confronted the fan as soon as the ball left the club face of his driver, while he was standing on the tee box.
The distraction in question was a crowd member whistling. “Really? Whistling? Right, great time [to do it],” the two-time major champion vented, before going on to add: “Right on my backswing. Very smart, whoever it was.”
After his round, Rahm was questioned about the incident and he responded: “I mean, if I were to paint a picture, you have the hardest tee shot on the course, raining, into the wind off the left, it’s enough.
“I know they’re not doing it on purpose. It just seemed like somebody trying to get a hold of someone for whatever it is. It was bad timing. I think I just used the moment to let out any tension I had in me. Really, that’s not – it is what it is.
“To be honest, it probably didn’t affect as much as I made it sound like. It was a bad swing gas well. Just a difficult hole. I mean, it’s frustrating, but it is what it is. It’s an everyday thing in golf.”
Despite challenging conditions, Rahm was still content with his opening round performance, which put him in a favourable position heading into day two on Friday.
Fleetwood’s complaint.
Tommy Fleetwood voiced his frustration about falling victim to a poorly raked bunker on the first day, resulting in a bogey on the 5th. The Englishman’s tee shot landed in the sand down the right of the short par 4 5th, where he was unlucky to find his ball in a tricky spot where the bunker had been raked.
He barely managed to get his ball out of the trap and went on to make a costly bogey in his opening round of 73 (+2). Bunker raking has become a contentious issue this week as the RandA announced it was not using bunker rakers for the 153rd Open, unlike previous years, with players and caddies having to do the job themselves.
Fleetwood confessed: “Yeah, it wasn’t a great rake job. I probably could have managed it better. The first thing is I was not very happy to be in there so that’s my fault.
“It was like in somebody’s hitting mark that hadn’t really been raked great. I tried to hit what I thought was the right shot, like kind of duff something because I knew I couldn’t get any sort of strike perched on the ball so I tried to duff it, but then you’ve got to get the height as well. So that was a bit harsh.”
