The British Open is officially launched.
The fourth and final Major Championship of the year kicked off Thursday morning from Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, England. This is the third British Open held at Royal Liverpool this century, previous ones having been won by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
Tommy Fleetwood, Emiliano Grillo and Christo Lamprecht jumped ahead at 5 under after the first lap. Antoine Rozner, Adrian Otaegui and Brian Harman are one shot behind. Stewart Cink and defending US Open champion Wyndham Clark, who actually punched a fan’s iPad on Thursday, are part of the under-3 group.
Several notable names struggled in the first round. Brooks Koepka is four shots back at 1 under, while McIlroy went even on the day. Masters champion Jon Rahm is 3-over, and Phil Mickelson is down to 6-over after going 5-over on his last two holes of the day – a spot that has already had a big impact on the course.
Play will resume on Friday morning. Here are the notable groups for the second round of the tournament:
Notable British Open bands
Friday departure times, every hour ET
4:58: Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Justin Rose
5:09 am: Collin Morikawa, Max Homa, Tyrrell Hatton
5:20 am: Phil Mickelson, Nick Taylor, Adam Schenk
9:04 am: Jordan Spieth, Matt Fitzpatrick, Jason Day
9:37 am: Patrick Cantlay, Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama
9:48 am: Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood, Adam Scott
9:59 a.m.: Cam Smith, Xander Schauele, Wyndham Clark
10:10 a.m.: Shane Lowry, Rickie Fowler, Robert MacIntyre
10:21 am: Cameron Young, Si Woo Kim, Bryson DeChambeau
Here is a complete list of departure times. The second round of the British Open will resume at 1:35 a.m. ET on Friday.