Royal Portrush shines in The Open's opening round

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – On the eve of The Open, the discourse was dominated by the tournament’s greater significance. The Open’s return to Royal Portrush was a significant step for a country that suffered through decades of sectarian violence.

But golf became the focal point once Darren Clarke hit the first tee shot a little after 6:30 a.m. on Thursday, and Royal Portrush is playing the starring role.

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“The course is special,” Eddie Pepperell said after shooting 70. “This is hopefully going to build into, progress to a historic Open. I'm confident it will be.”

Rory McIlroy’s Open chances may have ended on his first hole. Graeme McDowell’s sterling round was spoiled by a lost ball on his last hole, and Clarke faded after a fairy-tale start, but the locals will still get to see one of their own shine this weekend.

Harry Colt’s design did exactly what a golf course should. It was fair in doling out rewards and punishments. The doglegs require players to commit to a distance and line off the tee. Webb Simpson said he hit drivers and hybrids off the tee Thursday, and everything in between. He is 156th on the PGA TOUR in driving distance, but used his longest club just five times Thursday.

First-round leader J.B. Holmes, on the other hand, is one of the TOUR’s longest players. Royal Portrush allows a variety of players to succeed. There’s a myriad of ways to play the course, but the penalties are high for a miscue.

Royal Portrush may have the fewest bunkers of any course on The Open rota, but the rough is thick after recent rains and lost balls are a possibility whenever a shot strays from the fairway.

“They've done such a great job setting this course up, where you have fairway, first cut and then about 7 or 8 yards of light rough,” Simpson said. “So a shot that's not that bad is still okay. And then a really bad shot is super penal, which I think is the perfect way to set it up, because a bad drive, you're going to have a pitch out.

“It's one of the few courses that every player who's played it that I've talked to this year, they all loved it. Usually you'll have both sides. But everybody loved it.”

This is a much different test than the crispy Carnoustie that players faced last year. The lush conditions, combined with Royal Portrush’s elevated greens, mean players must take an aerial route on many holes. The slopes around the putting surfaces repel wayward strikes. Players lauded Royal Portrush for being tough, but fair.

“He really will only penalize you if it's a poor golf shot,” Paul Casey said about Colt. “Nothing is random with what he did. That's the best way to put it. You can see a lot of randomness in links, a lot of why on earth is that there?”

Casey said he puts Portrush, which is hosting The Open for the first time since 1951, in his “top couple” among courses in the Open rota.

“This has everything,” Casey said. “This is an unbelievable golf course.”

Ireland’s Shane Lowry is the only player within a shot of Holmes, but the crowd at 68 is as large as the one that’s gathered each night this week outside Portrush’s Harbour Bar.

Among those contenders are links aficionados Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Tommy Fleetwood, and the game’s dominant force in majors, Brooks Koepka. As proof that the course rewards good play, last week’s winner, Dylan Frittelli, continued his fine form with a first-round 68.

But Royal Portrush shouldn’t be accused of impunity. It punished plenty, and it was impartial to the names on the caddie bib. McIlroy shot 79. Tiger Woods, Adam Scott and Marc Leishman were just one shot better. Phil Mickelson shot 76. Among the players who shot 74 were Gary Woodland, Bryson DeChambeau, Xander Schauffele and defending champion Francesco Molinari.

The field’s scoring average on the par-71 track was approximately 73 strokes.

“You couldn't rely on getting (shots) back,” Scott said after making just one birdie Thursday. “There wasn't birdie opportunities out there unless you hit a really great shot.”

Throw in some trademark Open weather and Thursday offered a thorough examination.

“We had a true Irish day today,” said Jordan Spieth, who shot 70. “It was all the seasons in one day, which is kind of cool to play The Open in that situation on such a beautiful track.”

The claret jug isn’t handed out until Sunday, but Royal Portrush won on Thursday.