Round 1 of the Open Championship is in the books, and boy did it deliver.
With the help of Mother Nature, Royal Troon presented a strong test to the field with wind, rain, and cool air wreaking havoc. Only 17 players finished Thursday under par, with relative unknown Daniel Brown holding a one-shot lead over Shane Lowry.
Here are the biggest takeaways from Day 1, setting the stage for what should be three more rounds of thrilling entertainment.
Lowry shines, Brown shocks
It's certainly not a surprise to see Lowry near the top of the leaderboard at the Open Championship. Exactly five years ago to the day, the Irishman fired a brilliant opening round at the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush to sit one stroke off the overnight lead. He went on to claim his first major title with a comfortable victory in front of a raucous local crowd on the coast of Northern Ireland.
Lowry will certainly be hoping history repeats itself this week as he's in the exact same position after an outstanding bogey-free round on Thursday. It looked like he would hold the solo lead following a birdie on the 18th hole, but Brown just edged him out with a closing three of his own on the par-4 finisher. Lowry's putter was red-hot on the day, as he holed 126 feet of putts and led the field on the greens.
While Lowry's standing isn't a shock, Brown's is completely unexpected. The 29-year-old is making his major championship debut this week and entered the week having missed seven of his last eight cuts. However, the World No. 273 performed like a seasoned veteran in difficult conditions with six birdies and zero bogeys on the card. Perhaps most impressive is that he was in the second-to-last group of the day. That meant his birdie on the 18th hole came in near darkness as the sun slipped behind the crowds.
More of the same
It was the same old story for Tiger Woods on Thursday, as the 15-time major winner showed a brief flash of brilliance before it all came crashing down. Woods sparked interest early, as he's done many times in recent majors, with a long birdie putt on the third hole. But that was the lone bright spot of his day.
He limped his way to an opening-round 79, ranks outside the top 140 in both strokes gained: approach and putting, and only beat 12 golfers. Somewhere, Colin Montgomerie is saying, "I told you so."
Big dogs lurking
It doesn't take a lot of scrolling to find standout names on the leaderboard.
Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler, and Brooks Koepka are all within five of the lead and are three of the top four favorites to win the tournament.
Schauffele and Scheffler are attempting to add a second major title to their season count. Schauffele relied on his well-rounded game to record a 2-under opening round, while Scheffler was sensational tee-to-green but struggled with the flatstick once again.
Koepka flew under the radar in the lead-up to the event, with betting odds ballooning as high as +4000. After two early bogeys, Koepka rattled off four straight birdies to remind everyone he still needs to be taken seriously at major championships.
It appears this trio caught the better side of the draw with early tee times Friday morning in what will likely be more scorable conditions. Don't be shocked if one of them is leading heading into the weekend.
Postage Stamp delivers
It's the shortest hole in major championship golf, but the signature 118-yard "Postage Stamp" par 3 once again flummoxed the world's best on Thursday at Royal Troon. Despite the hole being just a wedge from the tee box, just over half the field was able to find the green in regulation. That yielded 33 bogeys and 20 double-bogeys or worse as it played to a stroke average of 3.28 on the day. That made it the fifth-toughest hole at Troon for Round 1.
Three of the world's top six players double-bogeyed the hole, with Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, and Wyndham Clark all undone by one of the suffocating bunkers.
To make matters worse, the pin position on Thursday was among the easiest on the narrow green. Things can only get worse the rest of the week if the wind stays stiff on the west coast of Scotland.
Baffled Bryson
It was a miserable Thursday morning for the reigning U.S. Open champ, who may have been the wind's most notable victim. Bryson DeChambeau played the first six holes - the ones that played into the wind - at 5-over par, a stretch that includes two usually scorable par 5s. He made the turn at 42 but managed to steady the ship as he headed back toward the clubhouse.
DeChambeau eventually signed for a 76, going even par on his final 12 holes. He'll need to carry that form into Friday - which has a similar forecast - to have any chance of making the weekend, or he'll be adding another disappointing Open Championship finish to his resume.
Troon shows its teeth
With a very wet summer thus far in Scotland, the usual firm conditions we've grown accustomed to at Royal Troon were nowhere to be seen. That caused most people on site to predict excellent scoring for the season's final major. While there's still plenty of golf to be played, the early returns say that won't be the case. A switch in wind direction from the practice rounds this week befuddled most of the morning wave, with the prevailing wind essentially flipping and hitting the players in the face over the opening six holes.
"It was definitely tricky. It was difficult," McIlroy said about the wind after his round Thursday. "You play your practice rounds, and you try to come up with a strategy that you think is going to get you around the golf course. Then when the wind is like that, you start to - you know, other options present themselves, and you start to second guess yourself a little bit."
JT might be back
Justin Thomas grabbed the early lead thanks to a 3-under 68, a round capped with back-to-back birdies. His first-round score was 13 shots better than the one he posted at last year's Open, showing how far his game has come in 12 months.
The fast start shouldn't be that much of a surprise, though, since his game has been trending for a few months. Thomas finished fifth at the RBC Heritage, eighth at the PGA Championship, and fifth at the Travelers - all tournaments with elite fields. He was also the first-round leader at the Scottish Open last week before three rounds in the 70s plummeted him down the leaderboard.
Thomas has thrived in windy conditions throughout his career - the 2021 Players stands out specifically - making his lackluster results at Open Championships even more puzzling. But if he embraces the conditions and continues to show discipline after he hits a bad shot, he'll have his best chance at winning his first Claret Jug on Sunday.
Rory's disaster
The two most famous holes at Royal Troon turned a decent day to disaster for McIlroy in his first major round since his heartbreaking second-place finish last month at Pinehurst.
The short par-3 8th, known as the "Postage Stamp," requires just a wedge to a tiny green framed by bunkers, but it can be treacherous for anything off-line. McIlroy's tee shot got caught up in the wind and finished in one of the cavernous bunkers near a steep wall. He couldn't get out on his first attempt and blew his second past the hole before two-putting for double-bogey.
The other iconic hole at Troon is the long par-4 11th with out-of-bounds in the form of a railway line down the right side of the fairway and deep gorse bushes on the left. McIlroy's tee shot never stood a chance, ending up halfway to the next town on the rail line. The driver was an issue all day as McIlroy finished his day ranked 120th in strokes gained: off the tee - a staggering number considering he's second on the PGA TOUR in that stat for the season.
Forget contending for the championship, McIlroy now faces an uphill battle just to play the weekend and avoid just his second missed cut in a major in his last 15 starts.
