1 week ago
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Paolo UggettiJul 17, 2025, 05:36 PM ET
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland -- Congratulations, J.J. Spaun, you've made it to the Open Championship for the archetypal clip successful your career. Here's the archetypal spread astatine Royal Portrush -- there's retired of bounds connected some sides. Make definite you deed it straight.
In your honor, Padraig Harrington; however does mounting your alarm for 4 successful the greeting truthful you tin deed the archetypal shot of the full tourney toward this tight, bowling alley of a corridor astatine 6:35 successful the greeting sound?
"There was plentifulness of 2nd thoughts, 'Why did I accidental yes?' Because of the tee shot. There's got to beryllium easier ones," Harrington said. He spent his clip connected the scope earlier hitting astir 40 3-irons intermittently to familiarize himself with the upwind and ended up making birdie connected the hole. "I hyped up the tee changeable arsenic overmuch arsenic I could truthful erstwhile I got determination today, it wasn't excessively bad."
Welcome back, Shane Lowry. Don't deliberation that the opening spread -- each 425 yards of it -- gets immoderate easier for idiosyncratic who has won this tourney present before. With hundreds of fans lining the ropes conscionable adjacent to the information zones, the fairway mightiness look adjacent narrower than you remember.
"The archetypal tee changeable wasn't that easy," Lowry said. "I wasn't feeling precise comfy there."
And however astir you, Rory McIlroy? The changeable you deed successful 2019 connected that precise aforesaid tee, the 1 that went near and ne'er stopped going near until it recovered the retired of bounds and led to a quadruple-bogey 8, is each anyone tin speech astir successful the lead-up to this year's Open. Now you get to effort it each again.
The country connected Thursday erstwhile McIlroy did measurement up to the archetypal tee was similar thing retired of a movie. The galleries were 20 deep, and the hostility successful the aerial gave mode to an eerie silence. When McIlroy appeared, the assemblage nervously cheered. He grabbed that driving robust erstwhile again and took 2 signifier swings. He glanced astatine his yardage publication and took a peek astatine the flags to cheque the wind. Finally, helium swung -- the shot pierced debased done the aerial and started going left. This time, it stayed successful bounds.
"I deliberation Rory's made that tee changeable a batch scarier. That's each I could astir apt deliberation astir for the past 3 days," said Tom McKibbin, besides a Northern Ireland native. "Yeah, a small spot tense and a small spot frightened of hitting that shot. I didn't privation to deed that atrocious of a shot."
After McIlroy missed a abbreviated putt for par and carded a bogey, a instrumentality successful the galleries summed it up.
"Better than past time."
"I felt similar I dealt with it truly good today. Certainly dealt with it amended than I did six years ago," McIlroy said of the opening hole. "I was conscionable blessed to get disconnected to a bully commencement and get myself into the tournament."
Through 1 time of the 153rd Open Championship, determination mightiness beryllium tougher holes and harder fairways to hit, but the archetypal spread astatine Royal Portrush has go the wide antagonist. Its tee changeable is simply a intelligence upland each subordinate has to ascent earlier adjacent settling into his round. The mode the gangly grandstands framework the container hides the wind, and the mode the bunkers -- astatine 275 and 290 yards -- look backmost astatine you tin marque adjacent the astir assured players question their strategy.
"It's playing truthful tough. The wind, you someway don't consciousness the close upwind but it's successful disconnected the right," Thomas Detry said. "You person to instrumentality connected the tee shot. Sometimes there's a mates of holes wherever it feels similar you conscionable privation to get it successful play, but [here] you privation to beryllium a spot much assertive to springiness yourself a accidental to amended marque par due to the fact that it's truly long."
In a nutshell, No. 1 embodies the course's ethos: Stay connected the abbreviated writer -- oregon else. On Portrush's authoritative people website, the statement of the spread -- named Hughie's aft the antheral who utilized to ain the close broadside of the spread that's present retired of bounds (the near broadside utilized to beryllium a equine farm) -- beguiles its challenge.
"Pro's tip: Unless against the wind, instrumentality a 3 wood oregon agelong robust for your opening tee shot."
Sounds casual enough. Let the champion golfers successful the satellite archer you: It's not.
"Talk astir committing to swings. We lukewarm up connected the range, and it's benignant of down retired of the close and you benignant of pb yourself into a spot of a mendacious consciousness of security," 2022 Open champion Cameron Smith said. "And past you get there, and it's like, 'Yeah, each right. Really request to measurement up here.' I deliberation I tried to deed that 1 underground and astir missed it. Not the top commencement to a large title I've ever had."
Maybe you were saved by the unsmooth oregon the fescue that frames the fairway similar McIlroy was Thursday. Now, you've got an uphill changeable with a apt atrocious prevarication toward an elevated greenish that is inactive steadfast contempt the rainfall that fell passim the day.
"You've got to thread it," Jason Day said. "Once you're successful the rough, precise hard to power the shot coming into it. The greens are truthful firm, truthful it's hard to get the close region landing it. And you've got to deed the fairway determination to get yourself successful bully presumption to beryllium capable to get yourself connected the greenish to astatine slightest springiness yourself a accidental to birdie."
Birdie? There were lone 12 of them connected No. 1 connected Thursday. How astir trying to conscionable marque par?
Smith scrambled for bogey. Ben Griffin made a double. Matt Wallace got to play the spread astatine the worst clip of the day: erstwhile the rainfall and upwind were taking pleasance successful smothering the course. Somehow, helium made a 4. By the extremity of the day, the spread averaged a people of 4.295 -- 5th hardest connected the people -- and lone 55% of players were capable to deed the fairway, which is 70 yards wide but feels astir fractional of that.
For each its rigidity, the spread besides displayed the galore ways successful which players could marque oregon interruption a score. South Korea's Young-han Song had 200 yards into the green; helium made birdie. Aldrich Potgieter had 168 yards in; helium made bogey -- the aforesaid people K.J. Choi made adjacent though his ain tee shot didn't adjacent scope the fairway and his 2nd changeable near him 249 yards to the pin.
Club enactment was fluid. Some players prioritized shot flight, others distance. Some, similar Lowry, planned for a circumstantial nine successful beforehand lone to opt for thing that gave them a semblance of much security.
"There was nary accidental I was hitting my 4-wood," Lowry said. "I wanted to support thing down retired of the wind. So I was like, biggest caput successful the bag, springiness it a rip. Thankfully it went straight."
"With it being wet, it could spell anywhere," Wallace said of his tee shot. "Two-iron would permission different 2-iron in, truthful I went with the mini driver. I deed a bully one, but past you got a beardown drawy 6-iron, 5-iron into a truly hard hole. We played successful the hardest moment."
Even the No. 1 subordinate successful the satellite -- who opted for a fairway wood -- missed the fairway near Thursday. Scottie Scheffler was capable to inactive marque par, but plentifulness others were not; the spread saw implicit 4 times arsenic galore bogeys, oregon worse, arsenic birdies.
"At the moment, it was challenging, but past you get retired determination and you play much holes, and it was astir a elemental tee changeable compared to immoderate others with the upwind we had," Nico Echavarria said.
Echavarria is right. Several players spent plentifulness of clip talking astir however hard the 11th hole, successful particular, was disconnected the tee Thursday successful this wind. While immoderate of Portrush's tee shots tin beryllium vexing successful antithetic ways, the first's intimidation mostly comes from however straightforward it appears to the bare eye. That is, until you measurement up to the archetypal tee.
Conquering the archetypal spread won't precisely foretell aboriginal occurrence this week -- beryllium it during the remainder of a player's circular oregon the remainder of the tourney -- but playing the spread good tin awesome which players are assured successful everything from their nine enactment to their shot formation to their intelligence approach.
After Thursday, with the affectional tee shots and ceremonies successful the rearview mirror, the spread mightiness not consciousness arsenic climactic, but its value volition remain.
"I'm blessed that circular of play is implicit with," Lowry said. "And I'm looking guardant to the remainder of the week."
Don't get excessively comfy conscionable yet.
"Today was not adjacent that hard of a pin," Matteo Manassero said. "It tin play adjacent harder."
