Royal Liverpool member Matthew Jordan had the honour of hitting the opening tee shot and he finished the day at two under alongside 2017 champion Jordan Spieth, Swede Alexander Björk, Italian Guido Migliozzi, England’s Oliver Wilson and South Korean Si Woo Kim.
Home hero Tommy Fleetwood delighted the Royal Liverpool crowds with a 66 to share the lead with Emiliano Grillo and amateur Christo Lamprecht after round one of The 151st Open Championship.
The Amateur Champion made all the early headlines on Merseyside as he set the target but Fleetwood – followed by a large and vociferous gallery – came home in 32 to join him at the top.
It looked for most of the afternoon like it would be a two-way tie at the top but Grillo had other ideas and he recovered from two early bogeys with a back nine of 31 to also get to five under.
Spaniard Adrian Otaegui, Frenchman Antoine Rozner and American Brian Harman were a shot off the lead, one clear of Swede Alex Noren, India’s Shubhankar Sharma, Scot Michael Stewart, 2009 winner Stewart Cink, U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark and another American in Max Homa.
Fleetwood was born just up the road from Royal Liverpool in Southport and learned his golf on the links of England’s north west coast.
He finished second to Shane Lowry at Royal Portrush in 2019 and had a top five last year at St Andrews, with his three top tens in four starts making him one of the favourites coming into the week.
Tommy Fleetwood’s first round was his best opening round ever in The Open.
Enjoy @TommyFleetwood1‘s 66 in 60 seconds. pic.twitter.com/hQooJ7FJsD
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 20, 2023
He made a two-putt birdie on the par-five fifth but gave the shot straight back before putting an approach to ten feet at the seventh to turn in 34.
He then holed a 25-footer on the 11th and put another approach to ten feet on the 14th, starting a hat-trick of gains that also contained an up-and-down on the par-five 15th and a 26-foot putt on the next.
“If you’re not going to enjoy this atmosphere and these experiences then what’s the point?” he said. “Make sure you have the time of your life out there.
“Being this close to home is the coolest thing and I’m so grateful to everyone that cheers me on. I am one of them, one of the guys that’s out there. I’m a fan of the game. I’m from this area. Yes I feel at home and to feel that support, it means a lot.
“As first rounds go, that’s absolutely the one you wanted, and to get off to a good start feels good.”
