Senior British Open 2015: Leaderboard Scores and Highlights from Thursday

Reigning champion Bernhard Langer headlines a crowded leaderboard after the opening round of the 2015 Senior British Open. The German is one of eight players to tie for the lead after posting a five-under 65 on Thursday at Sunningdale Golf Club.

Langer is the winner of five Senior Grand Slam events, the most recent being the Players Championship earlier in the season. He's joined in first place by several notable names, including Miguel Angel Jimenez, Lee Janzen and Jeff Sluman.

Let's check out all of the golfers who surged into the top 10 in the first round along with a recap of the action on Day 1 from Berkshire, England.

Tournament Leaderboard

Rank	Golfer	Country	Score
T-1	Bart Bryant	USA	-5
T-1	Jeff Sluman	USA	-5
T-1	Lee Janzen	USA	-5
T-1	Miguel Angel Jimenez	ESP	-5
T-1	Bernhard Langer	GER	-5
T-1	Marco Dawson	USA	-5
T-1	Michael Allen	USA	-5
T-1	Lianwei Zhang	CHN	-5
T-9	Brian Henninger	USA	-4
T-9	Cesar Monasterio	ARG	-4
T-9	Mark Mouland	WAL	-4

For a complete list of scores after Round 1 visit the European Tour's official site.

Day 1 Recap

Langer, who also won this title in 2010 to go along with his triumph last year, looks primed to contend once again after a nearly error-free round. His only bogey came on the sixth, but he quickly rebounded with two birdies over the next three holes.

The strong performance doesn't come as much of a surprise. Not only does he have a strong track record in the event, regardless of the course, but he also talked before the tournament about how much he enjoys this week's venue, as noted by the European Tour.

"Sunningdale is beautiful," Langer said. "It's absolutely magnificent for the eyes. You see the heather blooming, trees and the rolling hills, the bunkers. It's really pretty for the eye, and most holes are by themselves. It's not a golf course where you can see three or four holes all at once. You're really secluded as you play your own hole."

Based on Thursday's action, the course is going to make it difficult for anybody to run away from the field. So it's going to take four straight days of consistently good ball-striking and some hot streaks with the putter to raise the trophy.

This season's other major winners didn't crack the top 10 in Round 1.

PGA Championship winner Colin Montgomerie is still firmly in the mix after a three-under 67. He made a mess of the par-four 11th, carding a double bogey, but was otherwise on target most of the day. Without that mistake, he's tied with the leaders.

The European Senior Tour highlighted the popular Scot in action:

It's going to take a little more work for Jeff Maggert, who won both the Tradition and the U.S. Senior Open, to climb the leaderboard. He started hot, birdieing the second and third holes, but posted four bogeys and just a single birdie from that point forward.

Tom Watson is right back chasing a championship after saying an emotional goodbye to St. Andrews during the British Open last week. He posted a solid three-under round to leave himself in the pack just behind the leaders.

Other marquee contenders who shot under par in the opening round include: Mark Calcavecchia (-3), Fred Couples (-2), Mark O'Meara (-2), Tom Lehman (-1), Stephen Ames (-1) and Kohki Idoki (-1).

Looking ahead, the most intriguing part of Friday will be seeing whether some of the leaders are able to pull away or if the tournament remains extremely bunched up. As mentioned, it's unlikely any single player is going to surge ahead with the way the course is playing.

Langer should be considered the favorite coming out of Thursday given his affinity for the Open Championship courses. But he'll face more competition this time compared to his 13-stroke romp to first one year ago.