The Open 2024: first round updates – live | The Open

… and now Rose nearly drains a 30-footer on 2. A couple of inches here and there, and he’d have opened his bid with back-to-back birdies. But he has to settle for a pair of pars. Of the 24 early starters, only five are in red figures.

-2: Song (4)
-1: Noren (5), N Hojgaard (2), Scott (2), Molinari (2)

Nicolai Hojgaard chips in from the side of 2. The 23-year old Dane joins the group at -1. Meanwhile a great opportunity for an opening birdie for Justin Rose, but the 2013 US Open champion doesn’t hit his fairly straight eight-footer on 1, the ball dying off to the right on its last turn. Par.

Back-to-back birdies for Younghan Song. The latest at 3, and he hits the front on his own. Alex Noren stays on his tail with birdie at the first par-five, the 4th. The 2018 champ Francesco Molinari opens with birdie. But it’s a lip-out from five feet at 3 for Ryosuke Kinoshita, who slips off the early pace.

-2: Song (3)
-1: Noren (4), Scott (1), Molinari (1)

A horror start for Jasper Stubbs. The 22-year-old Australian amateur won the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship last year in something of an upset, ranked as he was 476th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. The victory earned him spots at this year’s Masters and here at Troon. Having missed the cut at Augusta, he now carves his opening tee shot out of bounds down the right. Par with his second ball, but that’s a double to start. It begins to rain, in tune with the young man’s mood.

Adam Scott came so close to lifting the Claret Jug in 2012. It wasn’t to be, and those closing four bogeys at Lytham will have left a scar. He had the Scottish Open snatched from under his nose last week by Bob MacIntyre, too. But there’s little that vexes the genial Aussie too much, and here he his holing out from one of the deep bunkers guarding 1. An opening birdie, and while there are 71 holes still to play, we’re allowed to dream. It’s free.

-1: Song (2), Kinoshita (2), Scott (1)

Kinoshita threatens to hand back his birdie at 2. A timid tee shot leaves him 200 yards out, and he carves his second into thick rough to the right of the green. But he bumps a chip to a couple of feet and scrambles his par. He’s going round with Younghan Song, the 33-year-old from South Korea making his second start at the Open after a tie for 62nd at Birkdale in 2017. Song sends his second from similar distance to five feet, and tidies up for his birdie.

-1: Song (2), Kinoshita (2)
E: Noren (3), McKibbin (3), Svensson (2), Hillier (2), Lee (1), Ancer (1)

Ryosuke Kinoshita has the honour of carding the first birdie of the 2024 Open. The 33-year-old from Japan rakes in a long putt across 1 to hit the top of the standings. Whatever happens now, he’ll always be able to say he once led the Open. Meanwhile up on 3, Tom McKibbin makes the second, steering in a right-to-left slider from 15 feet to return to level par.

-1: Kinoshita (1)
E: Noren (3), McKibben (3), Svensson (1), Norrman (1), Hendry (1), Song (1), Hillier (1)
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+4: Hamilton (3)

The bunkers claim their first victim of the week. Well that didn’t take long. Todd Hamilton sends his second at 3 into a deep trap. His first attempt to escape rockets off the hosel and slams into the face, and he’s forced to turn sideways and bash out in a huff. That leads to a triple bogey. Hamilton won’t be the last. Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson will be wondering why this fate didn’t befall him 20 years ago.

Michael Hendry sends his opening shot down the track. The 36-year-old from New Zealand qualified for Hoylake last year, but was prevented from teeing it up after a leukemia diagnosis. Thankfully he’s back to health and competing this week, having been granted a medical exemption by the R&A. Par to start. He’s going round with Jesper Svensson, who nearly begins his Open debut in perfect fashion, sending his second at 1 from 131 yards to five feet … but he can’t make the putt. We’re still looking for our first birdie of the week.

The first dropped shots of the week. Todd Hamilton and Jack McDonald aren’t able to get up and down at 2. Justin Leonard splashes out to six feet, though, and remains at level par. Back on 1, Tom McKibbin nearly makes the first birdie of the championship, but his putt shaves the hole and on we go.

Opening pars for Justin Leonard, Todd Hamilton and Jack McDonald. But the two erstwhile champions find pot bunkers on 2, while McDonald flies the green. It’s going to be a long day; chances are we’ll love it more than quite a few members of the field. Still, for what it’s worth – and that is next to the square root of absolutely nothing at all – here’s the first leaderboard of the week.

E: Leonard (1), Hamilton (1), McDonald (1)

The weather forecast. It’s Scotland, it’s the Open, it’s changeable. There are outbreaks of rain and drizzle expected throughout the day, and there’s a fresh breeze. The wind’s against on the front nine, but it should help coming home along the more testing back nine, so there’s a good chance of a score in the mid-60s for anyone who keeps it straight. Avoid those pot bunkers, now!

Here we go, then … and the 1997 champion Justin Leonard cracks the opening tee shot of this year’s Open down the middle. He could sell that for cash money to the leaders on Sunday afternoon. The 2004 winner Todd Hamilton follows him down there. And finally, making it three fine strokes, 31-year-old Jack McDonald of nearby Kilmarnock, making his Open debut. The nerves will have been jangling, so everyone strides off wearing a relieved smile.

Preamble