The Open 2025 live: leaderboard, scores, updates from round 1 at Portrush

Lowry tees off at 10.09am, McIlroy under way at 3.10pm – click here for full tee times

Shane Lowry also returns to Portrush, the site of his Open win in 2019

Prone to eruptions, the player from Buckinghamshire was born in 1992, the year Nick Faldo become the last Englishman to win the Open. He says he won’t change a thing at Portrush after his best major result, a tie for fourth at Oakmont in the US Open last month. He’s off at 2.37pm.

Read his full exclusive interview with Rick Broadbent here.

Feathers have already been ruffled out here. Meet Belle the Harris’s hawk, whose brief is to scare off the seagulls this week. Insert your own golf-related joke here.

Hope you’ve brought a brolly...

It looks like conditions will worsen at Portrush as the day goes by.

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Helpful punters

As balls fly into the thick undergrowth either side of the narrow fairways, players, caddies, and camera operators are joined by intrepid spectators who offer a watchful eye, like helpful little worker bees all hoping to be the one who finds the errant ball.

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The futility of the game

Lots of people have been discussing Scottie Scheffler’s soul-searching press conference in which he debated the meaning of golf and confessed he has a daily wrestle with himself over the point of it all (Rick Broadbent writes).

It is a head-scrambling game and Tyrrell Hatton, a champion scrambler in that respect, explained it to me. “If you take tennis, there is such a short amount of time between shots. You don’t have time to worry about what’s happened. Here you hit one shot potentially every 6 to 10 minutes and that’s a lot of time to be annoyed.”

Padraig Harrington could empathise. His early promise has faded and, after a long search for his ball in the rough, slumps to a double on 10.

Padraig Harrington struggling

Padraig Harrington knows Portrush better than most players in the field, but a patch of grass on the 10th hole is causing havoc for the two-times Open champion (Tom Kershaw writes). A small army of stewards and fans are trampling a patch of fescue trying to find the Irishman’s ball but their search is to no avail.

He eventually taps in for a double-bogey six. It will be of little consolation to Harrington, who at 53 still believed he was capable of winning this tournament and was first out practising at 7am yesterday, but plenty will come unstuck on that finickity par four.

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Meet Richard Teder – the history-making amateur who reckons he can outdrive McIlroy

Being the first Estonian to qualify for the Open is an extraordinary achievement in itself, but Richard Teder’s 70-yard hole-out at West Lancashire is unlikely to be topped any time soon (Tom Kershaw writes).

The 20-year-old amateur had only required a bogey on the final hole of regulation play when he lost his drive and was thrust into a four-man playoff for just one place. It seemed as if he had squandered his chance, but, as the light faded, the largely unheralded prospect produced a sublime pitch that left both him and his bereft opponents in a state of shock.

“I knew it was going to be pretty close but when the ball disappeared I just couldn’t believe it. I kind of blacked out. It was wild,” Teder says. “It was by far the biggest shot of my life. Nothing can top that. I’ve watched it back way too many times. There’s been quite a few nights I just watch the video over and over again.”

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Teder should be an eye-catching attraction this week. An immense driver of the ball, his clubhead speed of 127mph would already rank among the top professionals. “Bryson DeChambeau is probably around where I am or a bit faster, but I think I could definitely outdrive Rory [McIlroy],” he says, proudly.

“I’m not going to be asking for many signatures. I’m here to play,” Teder says. “The end goal is to be the best player in the world. I’ve been saying that forever, and to win some majors and some big tournaments. I’ll definitely be nervous because we’re all human, but it’s going to be loads of fun.”

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Settle in for a long one

A long day ahead on the links of Royal Portrush (Stuart Fraser writes). There are a total of 156 players in the field and all start on the first tee, unlike many PGA Tour events which have some hit their opening shots on the 10th. As a result, the first group was out at 6:35am and the last group is due at 4:16pm.

It will be near darkness by the time the last group finishes, but they should be fine. To give you an idea of the timings of daylight here, I was fortunate last night to play at nearby Portstewart and hit the last putt on the 18th at 10:40pm. Granted, it would not suffice for professionals at that point, but 30 minutes shaved from that would be a reasonable cut-off.

Beers, smoking and Domino’s — the rise of Daniel Brown

The Yorkshireman had to borrow his dad’s credit card and applied to work at Tesco during the pandemic, but stunned fans at last year’s Open at Royal Troon, and is now looking to go one better after his breakthrough title on the DP World Tour. He tees off at 11.58 this morning.

Read more from Tom Kershaw here.

Brown enjoys a cigarette during a round on TikTok

A proper summer’s day

Naturally the wind has started to blow just in time for the start after a benign week so far (Rick Broadbent writes). We have been under way for a couple of hours now and there has been a dash of that golden oldie magic to warm up the crowd.

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Padraig Harrington had the honour of starting proceedings, albeit that meant an early alarm call for his 6.35am tee time. A sensible choice of an iron off the tee ended up with a birdie.

Then Phil Mickelson chips in from a bunker. Tom McKibbin, the 22 year-old Royal Portrush member, has had an early eagle and Nicolai Hojgaard leads. Rain, possibly thunderstorms, could make life hard for Rory McIlroy who tees off at 3.10pm.

Which Rory McIlroy will arrive at Royal Portrush?

The Northern Irishman stunned the golf world with the course record in 2005, but had a howler here six years ago. Now he’s back, having completed the career grand slam earlier this year. Can he replicate his Augusta form and win his second Open title?

Read Rick Broadbent’s full piece here.

Mickelson chips in

The 2013 champion has had a decent start to the morning, with this fantastic bunker shot the highlight so far.

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The challenges of Royal Portrush

The picturesque links course on the coast of Co Antrim is notoriously difficult, with very little room for error even for the world’s best players.

To find out just how tough Calamity Corner can be, our very own Angus Oliver made his way over to Northern Ireland to check it out. Read his full piece, complete with a video of his round, here.

Tee times

(All times BST)

(a) – indicates amateur

Key moments 6.35am: Padraig Harrington (Ire), Nicolai Hojgaard (Nor), Tom McKibbin (N Ire) 6.46am: Louis Oosthuizen (SA), Guido Migliozzi (Ita), JK Choi (S Kor) 6.57am: Cameron Smith (Aus), Marco Penge (Eng), Justin Hastings (a) (Cayman Islands) 7.08am: Jason Day (Aus), Taylor Pendrith (Can), Jacob Skov Olesen (Nor) 7.19am: Phil Mickelson (US), Daniel Van Tonder (SA), Ryan Peake (Aus) 7.30am: Max Greyserman (US), Byeong Hun An (S Kor), Niklas Norgaard (Nor) 7.41am: Jordan Smith (Eng), Haotong Li (Chi), Dustin Johnson (US) 7.52am: Darren Clarke (N Ire), Davis Riley (US), Lucas Herbert (Aus) 8.03am: Kevin Yu (Tai), Julien Guerrier (Fra), Mikiya Akutsu (Japan) 8.14am: Thomas Detry (Bel), Chris Gotterup (US), Lee Westwood (Eng) 8.25am: Patrick Cantlay (US), Cameron Young (US), Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 8.36am: Thorbjorn Olesen (Nor), Matthew Jordan (Eng), Filip Jakubcik (a) (Cze) 8.47am: Henrik Stenson (Swe), Stephan Jaeger (Ger), Sebastian Soderberg (Swe) 9.03am: Kristoffer Reitan (Nor), Martin Couvra (Fra), Adrien Saddier (Fra) 9.14am: Takumi Kanaya (Japan), Justin Walters (SA), Bryan Newman (a) (SA) 9.25am: Hideki Matsuyama (Japan), Ryan Fox (NZ), Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng) 9.36am: Sepp Straka (Aust), Ben Griffin (US), Akshay Bhatia (US) 9.47am: Sam Burns (US), Aldrich Potgieter (SA), Brooks Koepka (US) 9.58am: Xander Schauffele (US), JJ Spaun (US), Jon Rahm (Spa) 10.09am: Shane Lowry (Ire), Collin Morikawa (US), Scottie Scheffler (US) 10.20am: Corey Conners (Can), Wyndham Clark (US), Tom Hoge (US) 10.31am: Denny McCarthy (US), Nico Echevarria (Col), Patrick Reed (US) 10.42am: Matti Schmid (Ger), Ryggs Johnston (US), Richard Teder (a) (Est) 10.53am: Dylan Naidoo (SA), Darren Fichardt (SA), John Axelsen (Den) 11.04am: Justin Suh (US), Oliver Lindell (Fin), Jesper Sandborg (Swe) 11.15am: Sadom Kaewkanjana (Thai), Riki Kawamoto (Japan), Sampson Zheng (Chi) 11.26am: Stewart Cink (US), Matteo Manassero (Ita), Marc Leishman (Aus) 11.47am: Francesco Molinari (Ita), Jesper Svensson (Swe), Connor Graham (a) (Sco) 11.58am: Zach Johnson (US), Daniel Hillier (NZ), Daniel Brown (Eng) 12.09pm: Adam Scott (Aus), Rickie Fowler (US), Ethan Fang (a) (US) 12.20pm: Laurie Canter (Eng), Elvis Smylie (Aus), Sergio Garcia (Spa) 12.31pm: Andrew Novak (US), Matthieu Pavon (Fra), Matt Wallace (Eng) 12.42pm: Davis Thompson (US), Dean Burmester (SA), Riyuka Hoshino (Japan) 12.53pm: Si Woo Kim (S Kor), Shugo Imahira (Japan), Sebastian Cave (a) (Eng) 1.04pm: Michael Kim (US), Bud Cauley (US), John Parry (Eng) 1.15pm: Matt McCarty (US), Shaun Norris (SA), Angel Hidalgo (Spa) 1.26pm: Keegan Bradley (US), Sungjae Im (S Kor), Daniel Berger (US) 1.37pm: Rasmus Hojgaard (Den), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (SA), Romain Langasque (Fra) 1.48pm: Aaron Rai (Eng), Sahith Theegala (US), Harry Hall (Eng) 2.04pm: Justin Leonard (US), Thriston Lawrence (SA), Antoine Rosner (Fra) 2.15pm: JT Poston (US), Chris Kirk (US), Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 2.26pm: Brian Harman (US), Maverick McNealy (US), Joaquin Niemann (Chile) 2.37pm: Russell Henley (US), Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Min Woo Lee (Aus) 2.48pm: Bob MacIntyre (Sco), Bryson DeChambeau (US), Justin Rose (Eng) 2.59pm: Jordan Spieth (US), Ludvig Aberg (Swe), Viktor Hovland (Nor) 3.10pm: Rory McIlroy (N Ire), Justin Thomas (US), Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 3.21pm: Harris English (US), Nick Taylor (Can), Tony Finau (US) 3.32pm: Lucas Glover (US), Jhonattan Vegas (Col), Tom Kim (S Kor) 3.43pm: Brian Campbell (US), John Catlin (US), Frazer Jones (a) (Eng) 3.54pm: Nathan Kimsey (Eng), Jason Kokrak (US), Cameron Adam (a) (Sco) 4.05pm: Daniel Young (Sco), Curtis Luck (Aus), Curtis Knipes (Eng) 4.16pm: Younghan Song (S Kor), George Bloor (Eng), OJ Farrell (Eng)

Good morning

Hello and welcome along to the Times’ live coverage of the 153rd Open from Royal Portrush. The final major of the year promises to be a brilliant watch, with challenging conditions and a devilishly difficult course standing between the world’s finest golfers and the Claret Jug.

Rory McIlroy, the home favourite, arrives having finally completed the career grand slam at the Masters earlier this year, but he’s had a tough couple of months since. Which version of the Holywood star will turn up this weekend?

Shane Lowry, who won his only major title here in 2019, is also back, hoping to replicate his stunning 63, a course record, to add to his tally.

Follow here for all the updates, analysis and insight from our experts at Portrush.

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