The Open Championship leaderboard: Live updates from Round 1, highlights and more

Waking up in the morning and seeing The Open Championship going in full force is one of life's singular joys. And with the week ahead at Royal Birkdale for the 2026 British Open, that's amplified. With Scottie Scheffler looking to go back-to-back at The Open as the reigning Champion Golfer of the Year, with Rory McIlroy looking to continue his major championship resurgence, with Tommy Fleetwood looking to be a homecoming hero at Birkdale, and with a firm, fast course giving players a unique links challenge, there's an abundance of reasons to be excited as we got into the first round.

So let's follow along with all of the action with a live, updating leaderboard throughout Round 1 at The Open Championship, as well as running highlights and commentary from the first 72 holes of action in the final major of the golf season.

The Open Championship leaderboard for Round 1

Other notable players

• T14. Scottie Scheffler -2 (F)
• T24. Tyrrell Hatton -1 (F)
• T24. Tommy Fleetwood -1 (F)
• T24. Jon Rahm -1 (F)
• T40. Viktor Hovland E (F)
• T40. Justin Thomas E (F)
• T40. Tom Kim E (F)
• T40. Chris Gotterup E (17)
• T41. Brooks Koepka E (16)
• T61. Max Homa +1 (F)
• T61. Ludvig Åberg +1 (16)
• T88. Patrick Reed +2 (F)
• T88. Rory McIlroy +2 (15)
• T88. Matt Fitzpatrick +2 (15)
• T111. Jordan Spieth +3 (F)

Thomas Detry was one of the first out of the gate at Royal Birkdale on Thursday to start making some noise, getting under par early and then just steadily chugging along. He was the first, by far, to get into the clubhouse with a lower score on the day at 3-under. That was tied for the lead when he finished up his first round but still felt like, regardless of the rest of the day's action, he'd still be right in the mix.

Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau also both made early pushes up the leaderboard and stuck around. Sungjae Im and Dan Brown set the pace, though, in a big way. While Alex Smalley threatened, a double bogey on the 18th pushed him down out of the solo lead and even out of the co-lead.

It was a much less favorable start to The Open for the likes of Jordan Spieth and Tommy Fleetwood, however. Spieth was all over the map, looking almost immediately like he won't replicate his 2017 triumph at Birkdale. Meanwhile, Fleetwood at his home course started strong, but found himself in trouble and then over par to begin his round.

Open Championship live updates and highlights from Thursday

Updates will be in reverse chronological order and will happen periodically.

Harry Hall's nasty chip-in gives him a feel-good eagle

Harry Hall largely had a no-good, very bad first round at The Open Championship. So, naturally, he found some magic on his penultimate hole on Thursday. While at 9-over par for the tournament, he chipped in magnificently on the Par 5 for an eagle.

Collin Morikawa starts out hot

Collin Morikawa came out on a heater and found himself tied for the lead at 4-under on the front nine. While he gave one back soon after, he looked the part of a contender out of the gate this week at The Open Championship.

Hideki Matsuyama's ridiculous shot from a pot bunker

Almost no one makes ridiculous shots like this look as easy as Hideki Matsuyama.

Jon Rahm making some noise

If he showed up locked in, it seemed like Birkdale would be a great fit for Jon Rahm. He seemed to be making good on that early on in his round, as he was able to stay steady and then pick his spots to attack to flirt with the top of the leaderboard.

Scottie Scheffler starts off hot

Scheffler certainly didn't look like a man planning on relinquishing his title of Champion Golfer of the Year. He birdied four of his first six holes of the day at Royal Birkdale to move rapidly into the solo lead — but then gave one back after a poor second shot gave him a par attempt from off the green on the seventh hole.

Tommy Fleetwood gets under par after a steady start

The hometown vibes couldn't be higher with palpable support behind Tommy Fleetwood on every hole. That led to a string of good pars early on, but he then sunk a nice birdie on the fifth to get on the board and keep metriculating up the leaderboard.

Bryson DeChambeau got going quickly

After missing the cut in the first three majors of the year, expectations for DeChambeau were lower than they'd been for any of the four tournaments entering the week. So, naturally, he came out of the gates firing with two early birdies that got him into immediate contention to begin his week.

Alex Smalley headlines sleepers making an early run

We might've let Alex Smalley sneak up on us again at a major! After quickly getting to four-under, even if he was one of a number of players to give one back in short order, Smalley was right there with the likes of Detry and Sungjae Im as players who were able to make an early statement for The Open.

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