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

• T15. Viktor Hovland -1 (10)
• T15. Tommy Fleetwood -1 (8)
• T28. Justin Thomas E (9)
• T48. Max Homa +1 (F)
• T64. Jordan Spieth +2 (8)
• T76. Justin Rose +3 (10)

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.

It wasn't necessarily a dream start for the hometown hero this week, Tommy Fleetwood, but it was steady out of the gate for the Englishman, including breaking through with a bridie to vault him quickly inside the Top 15 on the leaderboard. Given the varying conditions this week, that type of consistency could prove quite valuable for him as he tries to complete what would be a phenomenal narrative.

But while Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau, among others, quickly put their hats in the ring near the top of the leaderboard, it was Sungjae Im and Dan Brown coming out of the woodwork to take the early co-lead in the tournament and set the pace.

Open Championship live updates and highlights from Thursday

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

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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