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2019 British Open Live Coverage: Highlights from Thursday’s first round at Royal Portrush

By GOLF Editors
July 18, 2019
Follow Tiger Woods in the first round at Royal Portrush with our British Open live Coverage blog below.
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The 2019 British Open is officially underway at Royal Portrush. You can follow the entire British Open first round with our British Open Live Coverage blog below, featuring live score updates, highlights from your favorite players, and video clips of the best shots.

Tiger Woods, who begins his opening round at 10:10 a.m. ET, is making his first tournament start since the last major, the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Woods will try to shake off the rust and ride his experience to a fourth British Open title this week.

Jon Rahm plays a practice round at Royal Portrush.
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British Open picks to win, sleepers and odds to win the 2019 British Open

Rory McIlroy, on the other hand, comes into British Open week as the unquestionable favorite among fans in attendance at Portrush. McIlroy grew up in Northern Ireland and set the Portrush course record at the age of 16.

Our British Open Live Coverage blog kicks off at 8 a.m. ET on Thursday.We will continue tracking all the live action through Tiger’s round.

Follow the entire first round of the 2019 British Open below.

British Open Live Coverage Coverage: Thursday’s First Round (ET)

FULL BRITISH OPEN LEADERBOARD | ROUND 1 TEE TIMES
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3:23: That’ll be all for the day. Interesting first round. Three of the biggest names (Rory, Tiger, Phil) ostensibly play their way out of it (and possibly the cut). Weather holds off, then doesn’t, then does again. Still, the leaderboard is full of intrigue. JB Holmes will enter Friday with a one-shot lead, firing a 66 today. Follow along throughout the week/weekend on GOLF.com for plenty more coverage.

3:18: Patrick Cantlay’s heater with the putter finally ends, missing a 20-footer to save par on 18. Next to him, Rahm… misses the five-foot par putt on 18. Frustration starting to ooze out. He moves back to three-under. That’s a 68. Could’ve/should’ve been better.

3:04: Patrick Reed narrowly misses a birdie on 18. A quiet 71 for him today, but that’s the best in his (Tiger’s) group. Speaking of Tiger, he’ll finish out with a bogey. That’s a 78. Surely will be interesting to hear from him.

2:59: Near hole-out for Rahm from the bunker. He’ll tap in. Cantlay saves par on 17 with a 15-foot putt. He remains two-under.

2:55: Rahm misses his approach into the bunker. He’ll have to scramble to salvage par.

2:51: Tiger steps up to 18 needing to make par to beat Rory. His drive finds the rough.

2:41: Another birdie from Cantlay, this one on 16. Hit a marvelous 3-iron into the green, and got the break just right on the putt. He’s two under.

2:35: Lee Westwood! A birdie on 18 for 68. What a story it would be if he could somehow win this.

2:32: Patrick Cantlay makes, arguably, the most impressive birdie of the day. Saves it from an impossible spot on 15 and makes the putt to get to one under.

2:25: JB Holmes drains a birdie from 15 feet on No. 18 to close out an opening-round 66. That’ll send him into the clubhouse with the lead. He’s tied with Rahm now.

2:20: Tiger makes his first birdie, sticks out his arms, takes a long breath and gets a hefty cheer. Why not?

2:06: JB Holmes leaves a birdie chance well, well short. Poor effort given a chance to tie for the lead.

2:00: Rahm misses his birdie putt and stays at five under.

1:53: Jon Rahm is feelin’ it, folks. Stripes an iron comfortably into the par-3 13th. He’ll have about 10 feet for yet another birdie.

1:46: Jon Rahm has about 50 feet for eagle on No. 12. This would be quite a statement early in this tournament. Instead, he nestles it up to a couple feet and will make birdie to get back to five under. Solid response to that bogey earlier.

1:43: Tiger hit a great shot into 13 — about 8 feet. And missed the birdie putt to the left. Wasn’t even close, frankly. He’s still six over par.

1:35: Nino Bertasio makes birdie in Calamity Corner (what a name!) for just the fourth birdie there all day.

1:32: Rahm drops a shot, pushing the par putt to the right. Will be really interesting to see how he responds to that.

1:29: Rahm leaves himself about 10 feet uphill to save par on 11. JB Holmes comes inches from typing Rahm atop the leaderboard. DJ finishes out his birdie on 13 to get into red figures.

1:25: DJ sticks his shot close into the par-3, 13th. Just a few feet left for a needed birdie.

1:12: JB Holmes drains a birdie on No. 14, and he now moves to four under par, a shot behind Rahm.

1:10: Koepka’s birdie putt on 18 comes up a few rolls short. He’ll go into Friday at three under par. He’ll be happy with his position, you’d imagine.

1:06: Tony Finau with a bogey-free round thus far. He’s three under after an easy, tap-in birdie.

1:02: Fleetwood finishes his day out with a par, to shoot 68 on the day. A trendy pick coming into the week, Fleetwood certainly didn’t disappoint.

12:59: Rahm is through nine in 31. He’s making some noise.

12:52: Hatton leaves his par putt to the left and he’ll close with a three-under, 68. He’s a shot off the lead. Koepka, a hole behind, misses a par putt from just a few feet. He’s no longer a co-leader.

12:48: Tiger leaves his par putt short. He shoots 41 on the front nine. It’s gonna be a chase to beat Rory.

12:46: Brooks is in a world of trouble in the thickest of stuff. Does well to get out of it and give himself an angle at an up-and-down for par.

12:39: So, Ryan Fox just shot 29 on the back nine at Portrush. He closes at three under.

12:38: Another shot out of the thick rough, another grimace for Tiger. It’s been a struggle to say the least. Elsewhere, Rahm is going to tap in for birdie and a share of the lead.

12:36: There are 48 guys under par right now. After a slow (and wet) start to the day, scores are starting to slip through the cracks.

12:31: Tyrell Hatton pours in a long birdie on 17 — and he moves into a tie for the lead. Lots of guys jumbled up in that area right now.

12:30: John Rahm is here. Another birdie, he’s three under par, a shot off the pace.

12:29: Tiger two-putts for par on No. 8. Announcers still speculating on his behalf.

12:25: Ryan Fox makes his fifth(!!!) birdie on the back nine, moving to two under on the day. If he birdies 18, he’ll shoot 29 on the back.

12:24: Jason Day hits the flagstick on his approach on nine and careens out to a few feet. He’ll have a birdie putt to move to two under.

12:20: Spieth saves par on 14 and he’s still one under. Looks like he might just piece together an encouraging round.

12:15: Koepka has about 15 feet for birdie and the lead … but leaves it a bit short. He’ll tap in on 15. Still four under par.

12:08: Announcers openly speculating Tiger is feeling pain. He’s making a mess of this hole.

12:07: Tiger finds the left rough off the tee and then second shot misses left again. He has a blind 200-yard shot from the rough into the green. And it … hits the the mound in front of him. It’s also pouring rain. He cannot be having much fun right now.

11:54: Tiger ends up with a double bogey at 6, dropping him all the way down to three over for the day.

11:48: Tiger is making a mess of the 6th. He tried to flop his chip shot but failed to keep it on the green. His third shot is OK, but he has inside 10 feet left for a bogey.

11:44: With wind in his face at the par-3 6th, Tiger hits it long and left with a 4-iron. It doesn’t look like he’ll get a shot back here.

11:42: Look out. He may have missed a birdie putt at 13, but Brooks Koepka is currently three under and one off the lead at The Open.

11:38: Ouch, Tiger can’t convert his 10-foot par putt and ends up with an extremely disappointing bogey to fall to one over.

11:35: That was not pretty. Tiger leaves his long birdie putt at 5 way short. He’ll have to work to save par on the short par-4.

11:33: The weather has been wild so far at The Open. It keeps switching from sunny skies to downpours:

11:29: With 87 yards left, Tiger chooses to hit it beyond the hole, but it goes too far. He’s safely on the green, but he’ll have a much longer birdie putt than expected at 5.

11:27: This one explains itself:

11:22: The par-4 5th is playing to a drivable distance today, but Tiger opts to lay up with a 3-wood. He hits it to the right side of the fairway leaving himself a perfect angle into the green.

11:18: Read all about Rory’s rough first round:

11:12: The longish birdie putt fails to fall, and Tiger will make his fourth-straight par to start the round.

11:07: Tiger has 171 yards left at 4 for his approach. His iron shot appears to be going right, but it bounces off a mound guarding the green and spins left, crossing the green to end up about 30 feet away.

11:00: At the 480-yard par-4 4th, Tiger takes 3-wood to avoid the pot bunkers at the 350-yard mark, and the plan works out perfectly. He’s in the middle of the fairway and will have a clear shot to the green.

10:57: Rickie Fowler shot a fine round of one-under 70 this morning:

10:54: Tiger rolls a nice putt at 3 but it just burns the edge. Another par for Woods, he’s still even on the day.

10:48: At the 175-yard par-3 3rd, Tiger knocks a beautiful pitching wedge to about 12 feet. He’ll have his first good look at birdie here.

10:45: And it’s good. Tiger cleans up his putt at 2 to finish off a par-par start at the 2019 Open.

10:43: Tiger can’t convert his long birdie try at 2, but he has just a couple feet left for par.

10:38: Tiger hits a solid approach from the fairway at 2. He’ll have about 20 feet for birdie.

10:37: Elsewhere on the course, Rory McIlroy just tripled the 18th to finish off a disastrous 79 in the opening round.

10:35: Here’s a look at Tiger’s par at the 1st:

10:34: Given his lie in the pot bunker at 2, Tiger is forced to pitch out and lay up.

10:28: Tiger pulls what looks like 3-wood at the 2nd and knocks it directly into a fairway pot bunker. Not good.

10:24: The rain has started falling heavily again as Tiger waits to hit his par putt at the 1st. He lines it up and drains it confidently in the middle of the cup, adding a controlled fist pump. That’s a big early putt for Tiger; he’s even thru 1.

10:20: Tiger has to go a looong way with his third from a deep pot bunker. He navigates it nicely, letting his ball run along the fringe of the green and stopping it within 10 feet. He’ll have that for par.

10:17: With his second shot, Tiger digs it out of deep fescue grass and lands it on the front of the green, but his ball rolls back into the front bunker. He’s still ok considering the lie.

10:12: Tiger, decked out in a royal blue shirt with a matching hat and white vest, hits his iron off the 1st tee into the left rough. He grimaced after making contact which is something to keep an eye on.

10:08: Tiger Woods is about to tee off for the opening round at Royal Portrush. The rain has stopped temporarily, we’ll see how Tiger fares on the 1st tee.

10:05: Spieth’s on fire…

9:53 a.m.: Rory’s round continues to get worse. He misses two short putts to double bogey the par-3 16th hole to drop back to five-over. Not the day he envisioned.

9:44 a.m.: Spieth is feeling it. He’s already notched three birdies thus far through five holes to move one shot off the lead.

9:36 a.m.: Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell was in contention at two-under and just two off the lead. But a bogey and triple bogey on the final two holes drops him four shots to two-over 73 for his first round.

9:25 a.m.: Another birdie for Brooks. He’s now two-under and two off the lead after a birdie at the fifth hole.

9:17 a.m.: The Barn Rat is in the mix! A birdie at the 18th hole closes out his three-under 68 round to finish one off the lead.

9:12 a.m.: Here comes Jordan Spieth. He’s now two-under through three holes after a birdie at the third hole. He’s just two shots off the lead now. A friendly reminder that the three-time major champ hasn’t won a single professional event since the 2017 Open.

8:59 a.m.: Birdies are aplenty so far at the second hole. 2017 Open champion Jordan Spieth birdies the second hole to move to one-under on his round.

8:45 a.m.: Frittelli and MacIntyre both bogey the 18th hole to finish the first round at three-under 68. That means Shane Lowry is the sole leader at four-under.

8:39 a.m.: Tommy Fleetwood birdies the second hole as well to move to one-under on the day. The Englishman is looking for his first major this week.

8:34 a.m.: Four-time major champion and defending PGA champion Brooks Koepka has officially arrived. After a beautiful chip shot onto the green, Koepka birdies the second hole to move to one-under. Here he comes folks.

8:26 a.m.: Scotsman Robert MacIntyre ties Irishman Shane Lowry and South African Dylan Frittelli for the lead at four-under today. Three men leading the way thus far in the first round, with Lowry already in the clubhouse and both MacIntyre and Frittelli on the 18th hole.

8:16 a.m.: The 148th Open Championship, which is being played outside of England and Scotland for the first time since 1951 when it was last at Portrush, will feature some classic Open weather: lots of wind, rain, and cool temperatures.

8:13 a.m.: Good morning golf world! The 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland is underway on Thursday. If you were asleep and missed the early morning action across the pond, we’ve got you covered with a full recap. There’s a lot to catch up on!

Rory McIlroy’s nightmare start and everything you missed while you were sleeping on Thursday

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