British Open Leaderboard 2017: Latest Scores and Standings from Thursday

The 2017 Open Championship kicked off on Thursday at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England.

Before the tournament, expectations were that this would be a difficult course, featuring high scores, nasty winds and players spending lots of time in the rough and bunkers.

That's turned out to be the case so far, as most golfers are having difficulty navigating Royal Birkdale.

However, a few have managed to master the course for at least one day. Here's a look at a trio of golfers who fared well during the first round.

Leaderboard

Ian Poulter

The Englishman shot a seven over at the 2008 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. If you didn't know any of the other scores during that tournament, you might think that Poulter finished outside the top 50. However, Poulter took second place behind Padraig Harrington, who shot three over to win.

That speaks to how difficult Royal Birkdale is, and it also speaks to how well Poulter has played at this course relative to the field. This year, he shot a three-under 67 (Royal Birkdale is a par-70 course) on Thursday and looked fantastic.

Jason Sobel of ESPN had this to say about Poulter:

Poulter was a putting master, draining a few long ones to keep him at the top of the leaderboard. This putt on the fourth got him to two under:

Poulter ended with four birdies and just one bogey (on the seventh). Given his experience and success at Royal Birkdale, expect him to hang around the top of the leaderboards into the weekend.

Stuart Manley

The 38-year-old Welsh golfer was shooting a respectable one over through 16 holes before catching fire at the end. 

On the par-five 17th, which offers players an eagle chance if they play it right (none more noteworthy than Harrington's eagle in 2008 to seal his Open win), Manley earned the 2017 Open's first eagle with a fantastic shot out of the bunker:

Manley then followed up that eagle with a birdie on the 18th hole to finish with a two-under 68 on the day.

It's an especially remarkable performance considering that Manley has missed 10 of 12 cuts on the European Tour this year, including his last six. It will be interesting to see whether the momentum Manley gained on the last two holes propels him to a solid second-round performance.

Matthew Fitzpatrick

The 22-year-old English pro doesn't have the notoriety of other young golfers on the PGA and European Tours, but that may change soon with a solid performance this week.

Fitzpatrick tied for seventh at the 2016 Masters and has made the cut at six of the other eight majors he has played. He has an impressive track record for a young golfer, and that trend continued through the first round at this year's Open Championship.

He shot a one-under 69 on the day, making four birdies in the process. His three bogies prevented him from an even better round, but Fitzpatrick showed a deft touch on the tough Royal Birkdale course.

Like Poulter, Fitzpatrick sunk a long putt for birdie:

That shot got Fitzpatrick to even par through 10 holes, an impressive feat considering that he was two over after six holes and in danger of having a bad round.

Like Poulter, expect Fitzpatrick to contend deep into the weekend.