What you missed at The Open while you were sleeping

Unless you have problems, like me, you were probably sleeping for the start of the British Open on Thursday. Golf Channel went live for the very first tee shot again, just after 1:30 a.m. ET and 6:30 a.m. local in Scotland. We’re approaching the midpoint of a full 14.5 hours of coverage and have plenty to review. So while you pour your coffee or just get into work, let’s catch up before you ignore the rest of your obligations and take in the second half of the day. Here are some of the highlights and themes from the start of golf’s oldest major championship.

We heard all week about the divergent strategies prompted by the conditioning of this burnt out links. The bombers, including Jon Rahm, said they thought they would hit a lot of drivers in an attempt to just clear all the trouble and pot bunkers. We didn’t expect to see many players hit the driver at the 3rd hole, a shorter par-4 with precisely placed bunkers. But Rahm pulled the big stick and carried it perfectly over the trouble and right into the heart of the green some 350 yards away.

We may see this from a few of the very biggest hitters in the world, but none will execute it as well as this. The more likely play will be hanging back as you saw with Rahm’s playing partners Chris Wood and Rickie Fowler.

Thomas Pieters, another big bomber, opened his championship by threading one up onto the first green, which was 390 yards out there. Get used to seeing this from a select few over the coming days.

One reason we love the Open is the creativity it demands around the green. Grabbing your 60-degree wedge and hacking it out of some rough is rarely the play. But there are options, unlike most U.S. tour golf, where that hack is the only play. We saw this variety and creativity in consecutive holes from one of the power groups in the morning wave.

After Justin Rose hit a beautiful bump-and-run chip that snuck juuuuust around a pot bunker, Jordan Spieth took out the putter on the very next hole to navigate around a similar obstacle. Look how close this gets!

This is what makes the Open such a different, interesting watch from the other majors each year. Rose went low with a bump-and-run and Spieth stayed all the way down with a putter, both pulling it off and putting it closer than seemed possible. We don’t get the demands for this creativity almost every other week on the schedule.

When I woke up, I did not expect to encounter Sandy Lyle, content generator. But the 60-year-old Scot provided at 1:30 a.m. on Thursday. Lyle, who is almost certainly playing in his final Open, showed up to lead off the championship looking like a volunteer.

That does not look like a competitor. That looks like a local retiree who volunteered for the free hat, golf shirt, and windbreaker in exchange for holding a “Quiet” sign for a few days.

We’re used to seeing logos all over these players, just not, uh, the official tourney logo. Lyle looks like a fan who got a little too eager in the merchandise tent, not a multiple major champion and golf legend. He even had the matching golf shirt under the coat. This is the kind of minutiae that’s innocent fun and may only appeal to the extreme golf nerds, but I want to thank Sandy Lyle, who sounds like a good dude, for providing this morning.

The most dramatic question of the morning was whether Jhonattan Vegas would make his 10:31 a.m. tee time. Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis reported that Vegas, who spent the week battling a visa issue, would not landing in Glasgow until 8:45 a.m. He was then taking a helicopter across Scotland and up to Carnoustie in a race against time.

Oh, and he also didn’t have his golf clubs, which were separated from him as he bumped and changed travel plans in a desperate attempt to finally get there. His equipment sponsor threw a set together for him and Vegas did make it to the range in time for a quick warm-up. But yeah, playing without seeing the course and no practice and brand new clubs you have never used after flying in overnight is not the ideal prep for the start of a major championship!

I’m sorry I’m trying to delete that subhead, but what has become known as Carnasty is actually playing quite benign. We knew it was baked out, with the fairways running about as fast as the greens. But with the putting surfaces so receptive and, well, green, there should be some low numbers throughout the day. To sum:

That’s a combination for a super low round and plenty of red all over the leaderboard. It’s still early, but if these conditions hold up, we’re going to get a 65 and perhaps lower.

The first group of Lyle, Martin Kaymer, and Andy Sullivan came in a good 20 minutes ahead of schedule. The Euros are always better about enforcing pace of play and keeping it on schedule. Let’s hope this is the kind of pace we get for the week.

Tiger is anchoring the back half of the tee sheet with an extremely late start time. He goes at 3:21 p.m. local and 10:21 am. in the eastern U.S. Woods will get some greens that are a bit trampled compared to the clean conditions of the morning wave. Here are some of the marquee groups coming in the afternoon wave over in Scotland:

7:53 a.m.: Rory McIlroy, Marc Leishman, Thorbjorn Olesen

8:04 a.m.: Dustin Johnson, Alex Noren, Charley Hoffman

8:26 a.m.: Justin Thomas, Francesco Molinari, Branden Grace

9:48 a.m.: Padraig Harrington, Bubba Watson, Matt Wallace

9:59 a.m.: Ian Poulter, Cameron Smith, Brooks Koepka

10:10 a.m.: Sergio Garcia, Bryson DeChambeau, Shubhankar Sharma

10:21 a.m.: Tiger Woods, Hideki Matsuyama, Russell Knox

The early leader was South African and former Minnesota Gopher Erik Van Rooyen. The general fan tuning in has probably never heard of him, but he’s a built like a brick sh**house and has shown plenty of game of late. It’s not shocking to see him playing well here after a top five finish on a links course two weeks ago at the Irish Open. That boosted him inside the top 150 in the world — we’re not talking about a top ranked player here but he’s got the talent to post this kind of mid-60s number and is not a total unknown. The margins can incredibly thin from No. 150 in the world and No. 15. Now comes the hard part of having to back up a 67 with another number on Friday.

Here’s your live leaderboard as more players roll into the clubhouse: