2017 British Open leaderboard: Royal Birkdale punishing to start 1st round

The 146th Open Championship has begun at Royal Birkdale, the northwest England ground that’s hosting it for a 10th time and first since 2008. The simplest summation of the leaderboard so far: Birkdale 1, Golfers 0.

The conditions at Birkdale on Thursday are rainy and windy, with water all over the course and 18-mile-per-hour gusts moving in from the west. This is a difficult course; when Padraig Harrington won at Birkdale in 2008, his 72-hole score was 3-over par. The first few groups to tee off on Thursday had a difficult time controlling the ball, and the wet rough and vegetation off the fairways makes missing difficult. Given the course’s tight fairways, staying out of trouble on Thursday appears quite difficult — although conditions were starting to improve as more players got onto the course.

That this would be a challenging morning was clear from the outset. Mark O’Meara formally started the tournament by hitting his first-hole tee shot out of bounds. O’Meara had gotten to 6-over by the time he’d finished four holes, and the rest of the field wasn’t doing appreciably better. Shot-making has been exceptionally hard, and players haven’t been making up for their struggles on the greens.

The Open operates without split tees, which makes for a long (but fun!) day of golf on both Thursday and Friday. Every player in the 156-man field tees off from No. 1, and it takes nearly 10 hours for all of them to get off the tee box. Golf Channel is broadcasting the action throughout the day, and you can stream it here. The golf will continue well into the afternoon on the American east coast.

The world’s top-ranked player, Dustin Johnson, is the betting favorite to win the Claret Jug at 11-1. Next, at 12-1, are Jordan Spieth and emergent first-year professional Jon Rahm. Sergio Garcia, Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose, and Rory McIlroy are at 15-1. Defending Open champion Henrik Stenson is at 25-1, and U.S. Open champ Brooks Koepka is at 30-1. It’s needless to say this tournament is a difficult one to peg.

The Open is a great major. Thursday and Friday are long slogs, but it’s lots of fun to watch former champions return to Open rota courses and mix with some of the world’s best young players. The first two days always find a way to be enjoyable.

Golf Channel’s leaderboard is always updating. Here’s where things stood around 2 a.m. ET, just as players were beginning to fill up the course at Birkdale: