The Open: Fan favourites on the course as golfing veterans making swift start at Royal Portrush
Sideways swinging
The perils of the tee shot on 15 are two-fold - firstly it is blind and secondly if you overshoot the landing area you are left with a treacherous downhill lie into a green that is hard to hold even from the fairway.
Tom McKibbin and Nicolai Højgaard both find the latter to their detriment, McKibbin running his approach to the back of the green and Højgaard seeing his careen off to the left having judged the distance well. Both with outside looks at birdie at best.
5 minutes ago
Gareth Hanna
There's a miracle walking the course out there
'It's a miracle I'm here... I was told after the last Open at Royal Portrush that I was going to die'
Armoy man and golf fan Marc Taylor says it is a 'miracle' that he has been able to attend The Open this week after being told by doctors he was going to die from cancer.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
11 minutes ago
Gareth Hanna
A new solo leader
Lee Westwood takes advantage of the par five seventh hole - one the green in two and a two-putt from 15 feet translates to a birdie, three under par and the solo lead.
Aaaaand it's gone. Westwood now a shot behind Jacob Skov Olesen, whose eagle at the short 532-yard par five 12th catapults him to -4. A brilliant putt it was, too, about 30 feet right across the green. Right in the middle.
14 minutes ago
Back in the first group
Pars at 14 for McKibbin and Højgaard, the Dane holing impressively from ten feet after hitting short of the green, but that's a bogey for Harrington to fall back to +4 again.
20 minutes ago
Gareth Hanna
Irish League represented
Annagh United manager Ciaran McGurgan is at Royal Portrush today looking forward to seeing Rory McIlroy... and he's back on Sunday hoping the Holywood hero lifts the Claret Jug.
20 minutes ago
Feel good factor in the rain?
I'll trust you Steven but I can guarantee one thing from here on the 15th tee, the rain is steadily getting heavier and heavier and it doesn't look like it's going to ease soon.
One of the marshals struggles to get a poncho on, much to the humour of everyone around.
"Stick that in your live blog," he fumes in my direction.
No problem!
28 minutes ago
Gareth Hanna
There's a feel-good factor oozing all over Royal Portrush. You have voices from America, Australia, Canada, Japan, all over the UK and Ireland. But most are locals and they are LOVING it! Shane Lowry got a phenomenal welcome on the first. But the star of the show so far, for me? Phil Mickelson. He has by far the second biggest crowd following him out there, after the opening group.
Chief Sports Reporter - Steven Beacom
30 minutes ago
Adam McKendry
Here comes the rain
It's light but we have our first squall of rain on the 14th as our lead group tee off on the par-four. How will that affect things?
30 minutes ago
Gareth Hanna
More on the Saturday evening situation
Band parade that clashes with The Open will rival Belfast Twelfth: 'We understand the changes don't suit everyone'
An annual band parade taking place in Portrush on Saturday — coinciding with the third day of The Open Championship — will feature as many bands as Belfast did on the Twelfth.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
33 minutes ago
Gareth Hanna
Cracker from the 2019 champ
Shane Lowry bursts one down the first, over 300 yards past the bunker for the best opening shot of the day so far. Re-run of six years ago, anyone?
Safely onto the green but the putt doesn't drop. Safe par and Shane's started.
Pin seeker!
Almost the most unlikely of birdies for Pádraig Harrington as he chips from the back of the green and it hits the flag but bounces away to a couple of feet for a guaranteed par!
We have a new co-leader, though, and it's Nicolai Højgaard as he rolls in that birdie putt, but Tom McKibbin has gone the other way as he runs his chip well past the hole and can't make the comebacker. Bogey, back to level-par.
35 minutes ago
Gareth Hanna
The big names are coming
Koepka has gone under the radar all week to as is straight in the red - caddied round, of course, by local Portrush man Rickie Elliott.
And will Portstewart-man-at-heart Jon Rahm follow that up? He has every chance after a super second which tickles down the hill to inside 10 feet for birdie at the first.
Edit: No such luck for Rahm and it's an opening par.
13 could be a pivotal hole
Watch the scoring average on this par-three today. It's already a difficult hole as is, downhill with the green sloping away from you, but it's also downwind today which makes it even tougher to get the ball to stop, as Pádraig Harrington and Tom McKibbin have found to their detriment as they run the ball through the back of the green.
There could be some big numbers on this hole today, even Nicolai Højgaard's approach was about ten feet away initially but has run out to 20.
43 minutes ago
Gareth Hanna
Wham, bam, Jon Rahm
No holding back from the LIV golfer, who won the Irish Open at Portstewart, as he launches his drive straight down the middle on the first. Makes it look easy. He's heading out alongside Xander Schauffele and JJ Spaun as we enter the feature group section, with Brooks Koepka up ahead (and -1 after a birdie at the first) and the combo of Shane Lowry, Collin Morikawa and Scottie Scheffler coming behind.
47 minutes ago
Adam McKendry
Perfect bounceback
Tom McKibbin's eagle putt on 12 never scares the hole from around 30 feet but he will more than happily settle for the birdie that gets him back to -1 - the perfect response to the double on 11.
Harrington follows him in, two-putting from 15 feet for his first birdie since the first hole (remember when he led this tournament?!) to get back to +3 and Nicolai Højgaard makes it a trio of birdies on the par-five by pitching up to seven feet and draining the putt to join McKibbin at -1!
49 minutes ago
And it's three at the top
Joining Westwood and Mickelson at -2 is world number 111 Haotong L, thanks to birdies at the fifth, where Westwood had driven the par four green by the way, and the par five seventh. Looks like he needs to acclimatise to the fresh, Portrush morning.
53 minutes ago
Adam McKendry
"What a shot Pádraig!"
The fans are delighted as Harrington pulls a three-wood from the rough down the right hand side of the par-five 12th and bounces it along the fairway, up along the slope in front of the green... and nearly holes it!
Is that the start of a resurgence? He's the closest of this group, that's for sure, with McKibbin also on the green in two but further away and Højgaard having to lay up after driving into a fairway bunker.
Today 08:43 AM
Gareth Hanna
No substitute for experience
Mickelson has now been joined at the top of the board by Lee Westwood after a tidy birdie at the downhill, par five fifth. The duo leading Then Open - combined age of 107.
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