Jackson Suber made a stunning Open debut, grabbing a shock lead at Royal Birkdale with a five-under-par 65 on Thursday. The 26-year-old American leads by one shot over Dan Brown, who carded a 66, while defending champion Scottie Scheffler is two back after a 67. However, Rory McIlroy endured a frustrating opening round, finishing at two-over 72 to sit seven shots off the pace.
McIlroy Remains Defiant Despite Errors
McIlroy, a four-time major winner, struggled with inconsistency, mixing birdies with costly mistakes. “There were just too many stupid mistakes – but every time I made a stupid mistake, thankfully I made a birdie to sort of keep myself in it,” he said. “I’m not too far away. If you look at the discrepancy between the scoring this morning and the scoring this afternoon, it looks like that’s going to be flipped tomorrow with the conditions again. Hopefully I can take advantage of the more benign conditions in the morning and shoot one under par and get back in it.”
DeChambeau Snubs Media After Solid 67
Bryson DeChambeau, aiming to avoid missing all four major cuts in a calendar year for the first time, showed signs of recovery with an opening 67. However, he refused to speak to the media afterward, instead providing quotes to the R&A. “It was a hard fought battle out there. The wind was switching quite a bit. It was fun seeing the fans going at us, and they were rooting for all of us,” DeChambeau said. “There's some driving holes out there I've got to work on. Other than that, I played really well. Made some good putts and three-putted once, but that's life.”
Dan Brown Enjoys Mid-Round Cigarettes
Fan favorite Dan Brown, known for smoking during rounds, mixed seven birdies with three bogeys to post a 66. When asked if he had been told not to light up, he replied: “I haven’t been told otherwise, but I’ve been making sure that they’re out. I’m probably on like seven or eight a round; stress levels go up, then probably the more I end up having. My dad actually used to smoke and I always told him when I was a kid to stop smoking and then he did stop and then I ended up starting.”
Scheffler Satisfied After Solid Start
World number one and defending champion Scottie Scheffler opened with a four-under front nine, followed by eight pars and a bogey at the par-five 17th for a 67. “I felt like the few shots I hit offline today, really only a couple I didn't get up-and-down on 7 and then missed the fairway on 10, I'm in a pot bunker, and then on 17 was really the only other shot I hit offline and I end up in that spot,” he said. “That's a pretty good assessment. I felt like I could have gotten a little bit more out of it, but yeah, if I continue to do what I did today with the ball-striking I'll be in a good spot as the week goes on.”
MacIntyre: Winning Open Would Fulfill Dreams
Robert MacIntyre shot a three-under 67 and admitted he could retire happily if he won The Open. “If I won an Open, won any major, if something happened, I could happily walk away from the game of golf. I’ll openly say it, I’ll say it until I’m blue in the face. It would be all my goals that I ever dreamed of complete if I did that, but there’s a long way to go. I’m hoping to play the game for some 10 years and more after that,” the Scot said.
