The Open 2026: Scheffler and MacIntyre make strong starts on day one at Birkdale - live

Key events

It’s not just the fairways that are bone hard with very little resistance. The rough is very dry, too, and Bryson DeChambeau finds it from the tee on 8, but the ball scuttles through the long grass and emerges on shorter grass.

The par-3 7th trips up Scottie Scheffler when he misses the green so he falls back into the big group sharing the lead on -3.

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Clubhouse leader Thomas Detry on conditions this morning. “It’s really going a long way. Have to be very defensive on some of the downhill holes. If you hit a 4-iron a little bit strong and takes a firm bounce, it can roll 300 yards. The bunkers are always in play. Those are the little things to be sort of aware of. Got to try to keep it on the right side of the hole.”

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Paul McGinley irritates a few TV viewers on TV commentary. I’m a big fan because I love how he lets us in on what he thinks are secrets – but which aren’t secrets at all. It doesn’t, for example, seem to have dawned on him that we all know about stats in golf. I imagine if you told him that you needed to get up early he’d be thrilled to let you know that he’d discovered the alarm clock. “It’s great. You set it for the time you want to wake up. Brilliant!”

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Royal Birkdale GC member Matthew Baldwin hit the opening blow of today’s first round. “An incredible feeling,” he said. “It was terrifying. It was overwhelming. But it’s something that will stay with me for the rest of my life.” He missed the England World Cup match last night because he set the alarm clock for 3.30 am, but woke at midnight when his wife told him the bad news.

Robert MacIntyre makes par at 17. A messy one after finding sand neat the green, but no harm done.

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Updated at 06.47 EDT

Tommy Fleetwood is under-par! It’s taken a while but a 12-foot left-to-right birdie putt drops at the short par-4 5th. The galleries are delighted. “Oooohh, they want it so bad for him,” says TV’s Nick Dougherty.

A house near that green has built a platform to view the golf at the bottom of the garden. It’s wonderfully situated, as the property experts would put it. Alas, the R&A have placed a big TV screen/scoreboard between the platform and the green. Cunning? Or cruel?

Robert MacIntyre’s approach to the par-5 17th has failed to find the green – it’s in sand or maybe in high grass among gthe dunes.

And Scottie Scheffler is the new solo leader: birdie at 6. He’s making a great start and the flat stick is on fire.

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Updated at 06.40 EDT

Robert MacIntyre has made hard work of 16 after finding the fairway. The Scot’s approach found the green, but left him 60 feet for birdie and he now has 7 feet for par having bolted the the putt. A momentum maintainer if he drains it, a blow if he misses. But in it goes! The par-5 17th to come and hopes of setting a new clubhouse target.

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Scottie Scheffler has joined the leaders on -3. A chip and a putt at the short par-4 5th and he’s resembling the golfer who won last year’s Open – and not the one who missed the cut last week at the Renaissance Club.

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Canada’s Nick Taylor has made a fast start with a trio of birdies. The latest scores at the top of the leaderboard:

-3: Detry (F), MacIntyre (15), Smalley (8), N. Taylor (3)

-2: Im (13), Brown (13), Hovland (6), Scheffler (4), DeChambeau (4), Gerard (3)

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The 2001 Open champion David Duval is level-par through 13 holes today. It’s a terrific start for anyone, but particularly for a man whose last three Open first round scores read 80-91-82.

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Robert MacIntyre is at the new par-3 15th hole. His tee shot misses the green but pulls up short of bunker. It’s a hood job that he’s a leftie because he’d be in trouble as a right hander. He makes the most of the luck with a fine chip close that almost certainly guarantee a par.

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We have a decent clubhouse target set as the Belgian Thomas Detry cards a -3 67. The Scot Robert MacIntyre makes his birdie at 14 to join him on that mark. Bryson DeChambeau, back at 4, cannot join them but he’s made a bright start and is -2.

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Robert MacIntyre’s approach to the 614 yard par-5 14th has found a greenside bunker. The Scott called it, roo. He seemed to like the shot when he struck it, but the land around the sand trap was always sucking the ball into its depths. And up-and-down for birdie though. It’s still a good day for the new dad.

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Dan Brown has the code to an Open Thursday. It’s his third Open start, he’s -3 through 12 holes and reviving memories of his 65 to grab the first round lead in 2024 at Royal Troon. Moreover, the Englishman has made four birdies in his last five holes.

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Scottie Scheffler makes an 8 foot birdie putt at 3. He’s now -2 for the round and making a good start, especially after his missed cut in last week’s Scottish Open. A nod of the head from the World No. 1.

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Updated at 06.01 EDT

A nice start for neat and tidy Russell Henley. Three pars and a birdie. For all his recent good form in the last nine majors (five top 10s) he’s usually made slow starts and has been top 10 after 18 holes just once – it was the 2024 Open though.

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An excellent par putt from Robert MacIntyre at 13 keeps him on -2. He has an excellent record on fescue grass greens and that’s what he faced with this week. The Scot is also a two-time winner on the linksland.

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Thanks Scott. A glorious day here at Royal Birkdale. The course is looking like Opens of old and the field is enjoying itself with wind not a factor.

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… and with that, I’ll hand you over to Matt Cooper. See you again later!

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Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood and Jon Rahm all leave birdie putts just shy of the hole. A promising if slightly frustrating start from the stellar trio. But no such issue for Bryson DeChambeau, who follows up his opening birdie with another at 2. His wedge in from close range wasn’t particularly good, but he makes up for it with a 17-foot putt. His playing partner Scottie Scheffler opens his 2026 account with a birdie putt from similar distance. Bryson is -2, Scottie -1.

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Updated at 05.38 EDT

Tyrrell Hatton and Bryson DeChambeau take turn to throw darts at the flag on 1. Opening birdies. Just a par for Scottie. Meanwhile over on 12, Robert MacIntyre, who has seen a couple of birdie efforts stay stubbornly holeside, watches one drop from 40 feet. And on 5, Alex Smalley rolls in a 15-footer for his third birdie in four holes! This is hotting up nicely!

-4: Smalley (5)

-3: Detry (15)

-2: MacIntyre (12), A Fitzpatrick (12), Brown (10)

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“I wondered if you might be interested in my blog looking back at the 1983 Open at Birkdale?” Ooh yes please, Steven Pye. “Three main tales - a collapse from Nick Faldo, that missed putt by Hale Irwin, and Tom Watson winning his fifth Open and his final major.” You will all remember to come back, right?

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… so speaking of that other contender for the morning marquee match … here comes local lad Tommy Fleetwood! He’s paired with Jon Rahm and Jordan Spieth, the latter with quite the history here. That bogey, birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie. The greatest sequence in Open history? It can’t be far off. Spieth cracks his iron down the right of the fairway. Fleetwood goes a little left. Rahm splits the pair, straight down the middle. This Open is beginning to happen.

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Another birdie for Alex Smalley! He sinks a 25-footer on 4 and joins Thomas Detry at -3. Meanwhile poor Matthew Jordan’s travails continue. A double bogey at 13, and the slight repair to his card made by birdie at 10 is gone in a flash. He’s propping up the leaderboard at +8, four adrift of the nearest stragglers.

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Here’s Scottie! The defending champion gets a favourable bounce back onto the fairway, having pulled his driving iron a bit. Tyrrell Hatton benefits from a fortunate kick, too, with his tee shot threatening to disappear into a bush down the right, but nipping back into the rough. And finally Bryson DeChambeau finds rough down the left. The marquee group of the morning? Probably … though the one coming up behind will run it close.

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Justin Rose loves this place. Of course he does, ever since that shot in 1998. And the gallery love him back. So imagine the whoop that goes up when he rolls in a 12-footer for an opening birdie. A three for his playing partner Viktor Hovland, too.

-3: Detry (13)

-2: A Fitzpatrick (10), Smalley (3)

-1: MacIntyre (10), Vincent (4), Lagergren (4), Rose (1), Hovland (1)

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Scott Vincent has only played in the Open once before, missing the cut at St Andrews in 2022. The 34-year-old Zimbabwean nearly makes a proper mark on the tournament here, though, going this close to an ace at the 219-yard par-three 4th. His ball rolls past the right lip, a couple of inches wide. Birdie, though, and he’s -1. The last hole in one in the Open at Birkdale, for the record, came in 1991 when Brian Marchbank aced the 12th.

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Updated at 04.51 EDT

Alex Smalley made his first big splash at a major a couple of months ago at Aronimink. A tie for second at the PGA, three shots behind Aaron Rai, and the 29-year-old from Greensboro, North Carolina appears to have acquired a taste for it. Having opened with birdie, he steers in a 20-foot left-to-right swinger on 2 for another, and he’s bothering the top of the leaderboard in short order.

-3: Detry (13)

-2: A Fitzpatrick (9), Smalley (2)

-1: Sullivan (12), Stenson (10), MacIntyre (9), Molinari (5), Lagergren (4)

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An outrageous opening par for Rasmus Højgaard. He hoicks his first shot of the week into a bush down the left. Forced to take a penalty drop, he then cracks his second from 266 yards to the fringe at the back of the green. Then he pours in a 30-footer for the great escape. He wanders off the green with a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

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Scottie Scheffler will begin the defence of his title in exactly 30 minutes. The clock’s ticking for us all.

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An egregious error from Robert MacIntyre at 8. A four-footer for par pulled right. Never dropping! Having raced it three feet past – and then looked around, eyes darting this way and that, as if to find a culprit because he surely didn’t do that himself - he does well to gather himself and tidy up for bogey. But he drops back to -1.

-3: Detry (11)

-2: A Fitzpatrick (8)

-1: Hillier (10), Stenson (8), MacIntyre (8), Perez (2)

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The 2009 winner Stewart Cink opens with a triple-bogey seven. Birkdale doesn’t always roll the red carpet out to former champions.

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Movement at the toppermost of the poppermost (to borrow a phrase from four fab local lads of old). Thomas Detry chops a wedge from an awkward position to the right of the 10th green to four feet, and makes the birdie putt. Meanwhile Alex Fitzpatrick gets what he deserves this time, walking in a 20-footer on the par-three 7th.

-3: Detry (10)

-2: MacIntyre (7), A Fitzpatrick (7)

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Updated at 04.10 EDT

There are ten amateurs teeing it up at Birkdale this week. One of them, Mateo Pulcini, has just parred the 1st and receives a lovely smattering of applause. And why not? The 25-year-old Latin America Amateur Championship winner is a cheery sort. But he is from Argentina … and it’s less than 12 hours since … well, y’know … but the Open gallery is always respectful and knowledgeable, and just in case there’s one idiot …

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Updated at 04.11 EDT

If anyone this week hits a better putt than the one Alex Fitzpatrick has just taken on 6, they’ll be doing well. And he didn’t even hole it. From the front of the par-four 6th green, it’s a big left-to-right swinger from 57 feet, almost off the side of the putting surface, over a hump, taking an almost 90-degree right-turn and rolling to a couple of inches. He taps in for par, which he’d have eagerly taken before actually making the stroke, but oh my that deserved to drop. Matt’s younger brother … well, at some point we’re going to have to stop referring to him as Matt’s younger brother, because he’s emerging as a talent in his own right. He’s -1, having cancelled out bogey at 2 with birdies at 4 and 5.

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Matthew Jordan has got history at the Open, with back-to-back top-ten finishes in 2023 and 2024. The first of those was particularly memorable, as it came at his home club of Hoylake, where he was given the honour of hitting the opening shot. He might want to forget the early moments of this Open, however: three consecutive bogeys, at 3, 4 and 5, followed by a triple-bogey seven at the par-four 6th. A quick clatter down the leaderboard to the very bottom at +6.

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… and another birdie for Thomas Detry, who walks in a 15-footer on 8. That street-fighting bogey on 6 looks even more precious now. Joe Dean meanwhile passes up a chance to join the leaders by missing an eight-footer at 5.

-2: Detry (8), MacIntyre (4)

-1: Hillier (7), Stenson (5), Homa (5), Dean (5), Southgate (3), J Smith (2)

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Bounceback birdie for Thomas Detry! The 151-yard par-three 7th is the shortest hole on the course, but the tee is well above a green surrounded by bunkers, so when the wind’s up, trouble’s afoot. Thankfully for the early starters, the wind is very much not up, so Detry is able to guide his tee shot to eight feet, and smoothly stroke in the putt. Meanwhile birdie for Joe Dean at 4. Despite the benign conditions, there are only four players under par … although admittedly there are only 24 out on the course at the moment.

-2: MacIntyre (3)

-1: Detry (7), Dean (4), Southgate (2)

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Padraig Harrington, who won here in 2008, describes the 514-yard left-to-right par-four 6th as “probably the toughest hole on the front nine”. Thomas Detry tries his level best to prove that, zig-zagging his way up it like the Keystone Kops: thick rough on the right, more rough down the left, a native area on the right. He then wedges out from 55 yards to 15 feet, and nails the bogey putt. That could have been so much worse, but he’s back to level par, as is his playing partner Matthew Baldwin, who also bogeys.

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… and so that’s two English players in red figures already. Who cares about football anyway? Here’s Sean Ingle on how Southgate, Baldwin, Fleetwood, Fitzpatrick et al are trying to land England’s first home win since Tony Jacklin in 1969.

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Matthew Southgate finished in sixth place here at Birkdale in 2017, thanks to a spectacular weekend’s work: 67-65. The 37-year-old from Southend clearly likes this place, because he’s started by draining a putt on 1 from Bob MacIntyre Country. The local lad Matthew Baldwin meanwhile birdies 5 … but he’s not got a share of the lead, because the aforementioned MacIntyre sticks his second at 2 from 172 yards to a foot and a half, and that’s a birdie-birdie start for last year’s US Open runner-up.

-2: MacIntyre (2)

-1: Baldwin (5), Detry (5), Southgate (1)

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Bob Mac aside, it’s still a wee while until some of the more fancied stars take to the course. Time for a little scene setting, then. Ladies and gentlemen, on the tee, Ewan Murray …

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A fast start for Bob MacIntyre! He sends his opening tee shot into the rough down the left, and only just finds the front of the green with his second. But he rolls in a 45-footer and birdie is not a bad way to start the week! Oban’s finest already has three top-ten finishes at the Open on his resumé, including a tie for seventh at Portrush last year. Keep an eye out.

-1: Detry (4), MacIntyre (1)

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Joe Dean makes it out of the opening hole with par. His second finds a swale to the left of the green, but he chips up elegantly to kick-in distance. Four groups have gone through this hole now, but Thomas Detry remains the only player to make birdie.

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… Joe Dean sends his opening tee shot into the rough down the right of 1. The 32-year-old from Sheffield has played in the Open twice before, two years ago at Troon and on this very course in 2017. He’s made the cut both times: indeed he bothered the top of the leaderboard on the opening day at Troon, a 69 putting him in a tie for fourth. (He finished tied for 25th.) Dean is here this week after winning that aforementioned Last Chance Qualifier, thanks in no small part to whip-cracking a long iron at the new par-five 14th to three feet for eagle. On the one hand, anything this week will feel like a bonus; on the other, he’s already got a competitive round at Birkdale under his belt this week, so he’ll look to hit the ground running.

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The 2010 champion Louis Oosthuizen withdrew at the start of the week. His place has been taken by his compatriot and first alternate Aldrich Potgieter, and the fellow South Africans exchanged texts upon the news breaking. “You owe me a tonne of beer,” Oosthuizen messaged. “We’ll get that sorted for him,” Potgieter promised. The young big-hitting Potgieter will be out later, but as for the guy who pipped him at the Open’s first Last Chance Qualifier here at Birkdale on Monday …

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The weather. It’s going to be sunny all day. The wind will pick up a little towards the end of the morning. Nothing particularly dramatic, but it’ll inconvenience the later starters more than the early groups, with everything pretty still at the moment.

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James Nicholas putts up from the side of 1. A decent effort that limits the damage to bogey. It’s par for Matthew Baldwin, while the confident drive of Thomas Detry leads to the first birdie of the week: a wedge to eight feet, and a right-to-left slider rolled in. Mixed fortunes for the members of the opening group of the 154th Open Championship!

-1: Detry (1)

E: Baldwin (1)

+1: Nicholas (1)

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James Nicholas is playing in his first Open. The 29-year-old from New York was in the opening group of the US Open last month, and ended up in a tie for 65th. After that wayward drive, he’s forced to chip out sideways from a bush, and can only find a swale to the left of the green with his third. Not the ideal start, and the very first bogey of the week is now on the cards.

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The opening tee shot will be taken by Matthew Baldwin. The 40-year-old is born and Southport bred, and started playing golf at the age of three when his grandfather took him out to a local field. A huge ovation as he takes to the tee. A driving iron … and he sends it down the right-hand side of the fairway. Out of bounds on that side, but he’s nowhere near. As for his partners: Thomas Detry stripes a monster drive, while James Nicholas hooks into nonsense down the left. First tee nerves!

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Updated at 04.13 EDT

Preamble

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the 154th Open Championship. Who will prevail at Royal Birkdale? The reigning champion and world number one Scottie Scheffler? Rory McIlroy, long overdue a major title that isn’t the Masters? Local hero Tommy Fleetwood? Justin Rose, who wowed ‘em here as an amateur in 1998? Or … there are many ors, and we could be here all day. Actually, we will be here all day, and here’s the running order (all times BST) …

6.35 am: Matthew Baldwin, Thomas Detry, James Nicholas

6.46 am: Michael Kim, Daniel Hillier, Andy Sullivan

6.57 am: Ryan Fox, Andrew Novak, Matthew Jordan

7.08 am: Henrik Stenson, Max Homa, Joe Dean

7.19 am: Robert MacIntyre, Rickie Fowler, Alex Fitzpatrick

7.30 am: David Duval, Martin Couvra, Matthew Southgate

7.41 am: Sungjae Im, Daniel Brown, ⁠Fifa Laopakdee (a)

7.52 am: Gary Woodland, Jake Knapp, Jordan Smith

8.03 am: Francesco Molinari, Tom McKibbin, Lev Grinberg (a)

8.14 am: Hennie du Plessis, Jose Luis Ballester, Dan Bradbury

8.25 am: Angel Ayora, Victor Perez, Mateo Pulcini (a)

8.36 am: Stewart Cink, Scott Vincent, Joakim Lagergren

8.47 am: ​Michael Thorbjornsen, Kota Kaneko, Travis Smyth

9.03 am: Alex Smalley, Sam Stevens, Ryo Hisatsune

9.14 am: Akshay Bhatia, Harris English, Rasmus ‌Hojgaard

9.25 am: Ben Griffin, Hideki Matsuyama, Min Woo Lee

9.36 am: ‌Russell Henley, Justin Rose, Viktor Hovland

9.47 am: Justin Thomas, Alex Noren, Jason Day

9.58 am: Scottie Scheffler, Tyrrell Hatton, Bryson DeChambeau

10.09 am: Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm

10.20 am: Brian Harman, Si Woo Kim, Nick Taylor

10.31 am: Ryan Gerard, Maverick McNealy, ‌David Puig

10.42 am: Kazuma Kobori, Tom Sloman, David Howard (a)

10.53 am: Antoine Rozner, Ren Yonezawa, Caleb Surratt

11.04 am: MJ Daffue, Frederic Lacroix, Jack McDonald

11.15 am: Jeongwoo Ham, Ryutaro Nagano, Alejandro De Castro Piera (a)

11.41 am: John Parry, Eric Cole, Tiger Christensen

11.52 am: Eugenio Chacarra, Matt Wallace, Max Greyserman

12.03 pm: Michael Brennan, Sahith Theegala, Laurie Canter

12.14 pm: Cameron Smith, Keith Mitchell, Stuart Grehan (a)

12.25 pm: Sepp Straka, Joaquin Niemann, Kurt Kitayama

12.36 pm: Sami Valimaki, Shaun Norris, Jackson Suber

12.47 pm: Darren Clarke, Adrien Saddier, Bernd Wiesberger

12.58 pm: Keegan Bradley, Corey Conners, Casey Jarvis

1.09 pm: Matt McCarty, Harry Hall, Haotong Li

1.20 pm: Padraig Harrington, Marco Penge, Michael Hollick

1.31 pm: Tom Kim, Billy Horschel, Mason Howell (a)

1.42 pm: Johnny Kiefer, Pierceson Coody, Keita Nakajima

1.53 pm: Aldrich Potgieter, Jesper Svansson, Jack Buchanan (a)

2.09 pm: Bud Cauley, Jayden Schaper, Lucas Herbert

2.20 pm: Kristoffer Reitan, Patrick Reed, JT Poston

2.31 pm: Chris Gotterup, Sam Burns, Adam Scott

2.42 pm: Collin Morikawa, JJ Spaun, Nicolai Hojgaard

2.53 pm: Shane ‌Lowry, Aaron Rai, Brooks Koepka

3.04 pm: Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark, Luvig Aberg

3.15 pm: Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick

3.26 pm: Jacob Bridgeman, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Tim Wiedemeyer (a)

3.37 pm: Patrick Cantlay, Daniel Berger, Nico Echavarria

3.48 pm: Peter Uihlein, Alistair Docherty, Francesco Laporta

3.59 pm: Cameron John, Austen Truslow, Sam Bairstow

4.10 pm: Naoyuki Kataoka, Marcus Plunkett, Baard Bjoernevik Skogen

4.21 pm: Kazuki Higa, Jiho Yang, Nevill Ruiter (a)

It’s on!

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Updated at 02.02 EDT

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