British Open 2023: 3 Instant Reactions to Thursday Leaderboard Scores
The first round of the 2023 Open Championship, the 151st edition of the storied tournament, is in the books, and Thursday certainly delivered on the storylines that were swirling prior to this year's tournament.
The last time the British Open was held at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club, nine years ago, Rory McIlroy notched his first Open Championship title. Heading into this year's tournament, he was a favorite to win it again.
Finishing tied for 32nd at par on Thursday, McIlroy has kept himself in the running to take home another title at Royal Liverpool.
Meanwhile, much ado has been made about the course's renovated 17th hole, which has not earned a reputation for being a golfer's friend, and sure enough, one of Thursday's leaders was taken down by its tricky design.
Let's break down those and other storylines that emerged Thursday, as well as take a look at the leaderboard heading into Round 2 of The Open Championship.
Thursday's Leaderboard
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A selected leaderboard following Round 1 of The Open Championship, with Round 1 score as well as total score, is below. The full leaderboard can be found at theopen.com.
T1 Christo Lamprecht, South Africa: -5, 66
T1 Tommy Fleetwood, England: -5, 66
T1 Emiliano Grillo, Argentina: -5, 66
T4 Brian Harman, USA: -4, 67
T4 Adrian Otaegui, Spain: -4, 67
T4 Antoine Rozner, France: -4, 67
T7 Stewart Cink, USA: -3, 68
T7 Wyndham Clark, USA: -3, 68
T7 Max Homa, USA: -3, 68
T7 Alex Noren, Sweden: -3, 68
T7 Shubhankar Sharma, India: -3, 68
T7 Michael Stewart, Scotland: -3, 68
T13 Alexander Björk, Sweden: -2, 69
T13 Matthew Jordan, England: -2, 69
T13 Si Woo Kim, Korea Republic: -2, 69
T13 Guido Migliozzi, Italy: -2, 69
T13 Jordan Spieth, USA: -2, 69
T13 Oliver Wilson, England: -2, 69
T19 Richard Bland, England: -1, 70
T19 Keegan Bradley, USA: -1, 70
T19 Patrick Cantlay, USA: -1, 70
T19 Viktor Hovland, Norway: -1, 70
T19 Sungjae Im, Korea Republic: -1, 70
T19 Brooks Koepka, USA: -1, 70
T19 Romain Langasque, France: -1, 70
T19 David Lingmerth, Sweden: -1, 70
T19 Hideki Matsuyama, Japan: -1, 70
T19 Thomas Pieters, Belgium: -1, 70
T19 Patrick Reed, USA: -1, 70
T19 Xander Schauffele, USA: -1, 70
T19 Scottie Scheffler, USA: -1, 70
T32 Laurie Canter, England: E, 71
T32 Zack Fischer, USA: E, 71
T32 Tyrrell Hatton, England: E, 71
T32 Lucas Herbert, Australia: E, 71
T32 Nicolai Hojgaard, Denmark: E, 71
T32 Thriston Lawrence, South Africa: E, 71
T32 Min Woo Lee, Australia: E, 71
T32 Joost Luiten, Netherlands: E, 71
T32 Rory McIlroy, Northern Ireland: E, 71
T32 J.T. Poston, USA: E, 71
T32 Seamus Power, Republic of Ireland: E, 71
T32 Marcel Siem, Germany: E, 71
T32 Jordan Smith, England: E, 71
T32 Matthew Southgate, England: E, 71
T32 Sepp Straka, Austria: E, 71
T32 Brandon Robinson Thompson, England: E, 71
England's Tommy Fleetwood Could Fulfill a Dream
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Hailing from Southport, Merseyside, England—not far from Royal Liverpool—Tommy Fleetwood has often dreamed about winning his first major at home.
"Winning a major is a dream, or winning the Open is a huge, huge dream," he said, per Golfweek's Adam Schupak. "For sure I've pictured it a lot and visualized it a lot; just haven't done it yet in person, so that's hopefully the next thing."
Fleetwood finished Round 1 with a 5-under 66, owning a share of the lead alongside South Africa's Christo Lamprecht and Argentina's Emiliano Grillo.
Fleetwood's lone bogey in Round 1, at the sixth hole, was mollified by birdies at Nos. 5 and 7. He added another birdie 11th and then fired off three straight beween Nos. 14, 15 and 16.
Fleetwood, who has never won a major championship, has six top-10 finishes this season. His previous best finish at a major was at the 2019 British Open, where he finished runner-up. He did the same the previous year at the U.S. Open.
Rory McIlroy Still in It
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In 2014, Rory McIlroy won his second major championship title at The Open Championship (and his first in that major).
This year, if he can repeat that feat, he will become the first golfer since Ernie Els to win twice at this major. Els did so in 2002 and 2021.
McIlroy, along with Tommy Fleetwood and Scottie Scheffler, was among the favorites to win the title heading into the tournament. Fleetwood finished tied for first at five under, Scheffler ended his day at one under and McIlroy finished even for the day, tied for 32nd with a score of 71.
That's not a bad place for McIlroy to be, considering that some of his competition ended their days at 11 or even 12 over.
Of course, the day didn't go perfect for McIlroy; he missed a two-foot putt on the eighth hole. But pair of back-nine birdies saved his day, allowing him to finish five shots back on the leaderboard.
Lucas Herbert Fell Victim to Controversial 17th Hole
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A lot of chatter heading into the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool centered around the course's controversial 17th hole.
The 136-yard 17th, previously the 15th in the 2014 Open, has since been reversed, resulting in a shorter par-3. It has precarious bunkers and sand behind the green.
Matthew Fitzpatrick's caddie, Billy Foster, called the new hole a "monstrosity," per Golf Monthly. Foster noted that
"There was nothing wrong with the little par-3 they had before, and they've created a monstrosity, in my opinion," Foster told Golf Monthly. He added that it's so challenging that the "best golfers in the world" would be shooting 6s, 7s and 8s on it.
Unfortunately for Lucas Herbert, Foster's prediction became a reality on Thursday. Holding a share of the lead when he approached No. 17, Herbert's shot avoided one bunker and dropping into the sand.
However, he couldn't avoid the second bunker and had to play with one leg in and one leg out, ultimately taking a triple-bogey on the hole.
Herbert finished even for the day, tied for 32nd.
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