British Open 2014: Leaderboard, live updates, scores from Thursday’s round at Royal Liverpool

Tiger Woods warned us he was ready to contend at his first major championship of the season. But did those of us who said we should expect little from the former world No. 1, picked him to flame out of just his second start since March, or rolled our eyes when he boasted he would finish “first” this week at Hoylake listen?

After he put up a 3-under 69 in the first round of the British Open on Thursday, the answer of course seems as obvious as Tiger’s automatic response to the traditional question of what he would consider an acceptable outcome to any tournament he enters.

The British Open is the most unique major championship of the year, and for many, the most enjoyable. The first two days are some of the longest days in golf, with the sun staying up in the UK until almost 10 p.m. local time and a tee sheet where everyone rolls off the first tee over 10 hours.

The weather was perfect at Hoylake on Thursday morning, setting up ideal scoring conditions for the first half of the field on the tee sheet. The sun was shining and there was almost no wind, while the greens were rolling around 10.5 on the stimpmeter. The greens are also generally flat for an British links course, allowing for bombed in putts from moderate to lengthy distances. Royal Liverpool is considered one of the easier courses on the Open rota, especially if there’s no wind or rain and the AM scores reflected that. If it stays this calm, the winning number should push 20-under.

With fairly lackluster play from the biggest stars, the story following the first round of the U.S. Open in June was the course. That couldn’t be further from the case at Royal Liverpool where more than half-a-dozen of the biggest names in golf are either at or near the top of the leaderboard following the first round. That includes first-round leader Rory McIlroy and yes, Tiger Woods is in the mix too.

When the day began, Woods was the biggest story. He was playing in his first major championship in 11 months and just his second event since having back surgery in March. There were questions about his his physical health, his golf form and even whether he still had the game to compete for major championships. He still has a long way to go to quiet all of those concerns, but he took a very strong first step to doing so on Thursday.

One of the quirks at Royal Liverpool is an internal out of bounds area that lines two holes, one of which is the 18th. It houses a tent area and creates another obstacle for players to deal with and avoid. It’s pretty rare to have OB at a major championship that’s not the actual property line, but these white stakes come pretty close to the fairway on those two holes.

On No. 18, it adds a challenge and punishes anything hit too far right. Phil Mickelson went too far right and knew it immediately.

While British golf fans often consider themselves more refined and respectful than most, it appears that there is a prankster on the loose at the Open at Royal Liverpool. It appears someone has been going around cutting the ropes that keep the fans off the course, and some mild crowd chaos has ensued.

This is noteworthy for two reasons. First, I am surprised this hasn’t happened before. It seems like an easy thing to do and scissor usually beats rope.

The second reason is that Bubba Watson, who is often distracted, appeared to come unglued after fans began pouring into the playing areas.

It’s been a tough day for University of Georgia Alums at the Open Championship so far and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. While his fellow Dawg Bubba Watson was melting down, Russell Henley attempted this chip shot from the thick junk and it didn’t go so well, at all.

Standard protocol after a shot like that is to look around and see if anyone saw it and then hit it again. I guess you can’t do that with ESPN cameras around, but I think we all know how you feel Russ.

Low tide in Hoylake means Pony on the beach.

Tiger Woods emphatically announced his return to major championship golf with a 3-under 69 in the first round of the British Open, but you really know he’s on the course and in contention when he starts whining about the spectators and their clicking cell phones.

Well, Tiger’s baaaack!

Miguel Angel Jimenez’s renowned and bizarre stretch routine finally had a practical use on the golf course during tournament action. Jimenez caught a nasty lie up against the wall of a pot bunker, and explored all manner of stances and stretches before figuring out how to make a swing.

At least he got it out! Unfortunately, the ball rocketed over the green and into some thick junk but this is hopefully just the first of four days of entertainment provided by the Mechanic.

Jason Dufner’s Auburn pride is constantly on display, but at the British Open, it’s for a more solemn reason. Dufner is honoring and remembering an Auburn community favorite with a patch on his bag. Just before he left for England, Dufner had a “43” added, the number worn by the late Philip Lutzenkirchen.

Lutzenkirchen, a tight end and leader on the 2010 national championship team, died in a car crash on June 29 at the age of 23. The sudden and tragic loss shook the Auburn community, and this is one way that one of its most prominent members will honor Lutzie at Royal Liverpool, and presumably going forward on the PGA Tour.

The British Open always boasts one of the most entertaining and, well, loose crowds in golf. It’s getting late in the day at Royal Liverpool, and thanks to our citizen correspondents on the ground, the images of overserved patrons are starting to roll in. So far, we have this gentleman passed out next to the No. 6 tee, “about 25 yards from Joost Luiten teeing off.”

These folks appear to be resting more than “resting” but it’s likely a mix.

In yet another odd occurrence at a major championship involving a golf cart, police on Wednesday night arrested a man suspected of assault with a buggy after the alleged perp stole the vehicle from a British Open staging area and drove it into a security guard.

The incident, which occurred at about 7:30 p.m. local time on the eve of Thursday’s first round, marked the second straight grand slam event in which some Mensa candidate decided it would be a good idea to liberate a golf cart an proceed to create a modicum of mayhem with the conveyance. Merseyside police said in a statement to the Associated Press that the 45-year-old local man smacked into the guard, causing a minor leg injury.

Rory McIlroy continued his string of Thursday assaults on unsuspecting golf courses as the two-time major champion took advantage of Florida-like conditions at Royal Liverpool and fired a 6-under 66 to take the early clubhouse lead at the British Open. A powerful, flawless trip around Hoylake gave McIlroy, in the morning wave of players, a one-shot lead over Matteo Manassero.

Now all he has to do is overcome his Friday flutters and continue his newfound love affair with links golf and the 25-year-old from Northern Ireland just may add the third leg of the career grand slam to his resume.

Tiger Woods’ declaration that he expected to finish “first” in this week’s British Open caused some major eye-rolling on the set of ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption” Wednesday night.

PTI hosts Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser were beside themselves with glee that Woods had returned to competition after a four-month, injury-related hiatus. But place them in the Hank Haney/ Curtis Strange camp of golf watchers who believe Tiger has no chance to walk off with his fourth claret jug come Sunday.

Tiger Woods is back, y’all. And if you were worried you might not be able to watch him play the British Open while you’re at work, well, ESPN is here with a dedicated online stream to cover his every move.

Tiger may not be a top contender this week at the Open, with it being just his second competitive start since mid-March. But he’s still the top draw, and the ratings for the two Tigerless majors this year hammered that home in the harshest way to the networks. So ESPN is here to make up for lost time, setting up the “Tiger-cam” that will follow him all four rounds. On Thursday, he’ll be out at 4:04 a.m. ET (9:04 local) alongside Henrik Stenson and Angel Cabrera. The tee time also puts Woods out on the course right as the ESPN TV coverage starts at 4 a.m. back in the States. He’ll obviously be a focal point of the regular broadcast as well, which will be simulcast on ESPN3/WatchESPN.

The Claret Jug won’t be awarded until Sunday, but players will begin the quest toward winning the 2014 British Open on Thursday when they tee it up in the first round. With the event happening in England, the time difference will make for some early hours for those who want to watch in the United States. Although the times may not be very accommodating, the coverage will be with a long television broadcast and multiple online streams.

ESPN will handle the broadcast and the company will tap into its television and digital properties to provide extensive coverage. The first group is scheduled to tee off at 1:25 a.m. ET and play will continue well into the afternoon. The ESPN coverage won’t be live for every shot hit, but it will be close. There will be 11 hours of live television coverage with the broadcast scheduled to run from 4 a.m. to 3 p.m. Viewers with access to WatchESPN will be able to watch a live simulcast stream of the coverage beginning at 4 a.m.

While the tee time draw at most events isn’t a major factor except for how it relates to television coverage, that isn’t the case at the Open Championship. The elements play a much bigger role in the British Open with constant and sudden weather changes impacting the scoreboard. A player can get the luck of the draw and be on the course during the prime weather, or get hammered by conditions instead.

We won’t know who will get the breaks this year, but will find out shortly with the first round set to tee off. Tiger Woods will be in the morning wave as he makes his return to major championship play. Woods missed the Masters and U.S. Open following back surgery. He has played just once since returning and his form will be one of the major story lines early on Thursday. He will play in an interesting pairing during the first two days, teeing off with Henrik Stenson and Angel Cabrera. Stenson is one of the favorites heading into the event while Cabrera always seems to play his best in the majors. The three are scheduled to tee off at 4:04 a.m. ET.

Gambling on golf isn’t just legal in England, it’s encouraged. So it was a bit surprising to hear on Wednesday that all the participants at this year’s British Open aren’t allowed to gamble. The players, according to ESPN, were forced to sign waivers stating that they would not bet on the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool. The same report cited one player as saying “at least 30 guys” were already in violation and had placed their bets with one of the books, and the number would surely rise by Thursday.

With that edict in place on Wednesday, the R&A probably wasn’t thrilled to see a pair of Northern Irishmen exchange some money in a very entertaining and public way. Granted, this wasn’t tournament action and it was just a friendly wager during a practice round game. But Darren Clarke and Rory McIlroy did little to hide the fact that they had some money on the line. The Ulstermen settled matters in full view of the the crowd and cameras, leading to this amusing frame-by-frame documentation. Here’s how it played out, only in my head (photos via Ian Rutherford-USA Today and Matthew Lewis/Getty).