Speaking of the veterans, former Open champion Zach Johnson has started the day nicely with a birdie on the first hole to improve to one under and 10th place.

You see, experience counts on the links. And it's a tough start this first hole too, as you can see below.

Image source, Getty Images

For the most part, you can't just grip it and rip it around a championship links golf course, and that enables the veteran players, shall we call them, to go toe-to-toe with the young guns.

And that's certainly the case at Portrush with a platoon of Dad's Army contenders showing these big-hitting youngsters how to navigate the links.

Former world number one Lee Westwood being the main man among them, with the 52-year-old right up there challenging in what is his 28th Open Championship, but first in three years.

Westwood and 55-year-old Phil Mickelson briefly shared the lead, while Justin Leonard, 53, Zach Johnson, 49, Sergio Garcia, 45, Lucas Glover, 45, and Justin Rose, 44, were all among the 31 players who finished the day under par.

"Links golf, more than any golf, gives you a chance when you're our age, shall I say?" said Westwood after his round of two under.

Read more on why the veterans are thriving at Portrush.

His wayward driving cost him a better score as Rory McIlroy was three under at one point - see how he got there.

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A mixed bag from Rory McIlroy on Thursday - but after the nightmare of 2019 he will take being just three shots off the lead (he was 13 behind here last time!).

He made five birdies, the third most in the field, and his putter was working beautifully, but strangely it's the driver that's giving him problems.

I say strange because he's arguably the best driver of a golf ball in history, yet he hit just two fairways on Thursday - that's the worst return at the Open in his career and saw him rank 132nd in the field of 156.

Luckily, thanks to working with Brad Faxon, these days McIlroy's putting is vastly improved and that got him out of jail.

Fore left! Was a popular shout for McIlroy yesterday, if he can straighten his driver out he'll be back in business.

Peter Scrivener
BBC Sport senior journalist at Royal Portrush

The first tee this morning was, perhaps understandably, nowhere near as busy as on day one. There were even a few vacant seats in the horseshoe stand as Stewart Cink, Matteo Manassero and Marc Leishman got us moving.

And the lining of the fairway up to the first green was certainly more sparse than when Padraig Harrington hit the opener 24 hours ago.

As players start to head out for round two, take a look back at the best shots from Thursday. Some beauties in here.

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We all hate slow play on the golf course, but it got a bit extreme in the first round as Rory McIlroy took just under six hours to complete his round.

Tough, ever-changing weather, 156 players from a one-tee start and plenty of golf balls ending up in thick rough that took some finding. All factors, but six hours?

"It felt like we were on the golf course for about 12 hours," Australia's Marc Leishman said, and he wasn't the only player who had something to say about it.

But why did it take so long?

Read our analysis on why play was so slow in round one.

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We had everything at Royal Portrush on Thursday, some glorious sunshine then some heavy showers and some wind thrown in - exactly what you'd expect from a day by the seaside in this part of the world.

It took Jason Day by surprise though.

“The weather here is the craziest weather pattern I've ever experienced in my life," said the Australian.

"There's no consistency to it whatsoever. You look at the weather - I mean, I'd love to be a weatherman here. You just get it wrong all the time. It's not good to be wrong in golf. It might be good to be wrong as a weatherman."

To start with, watch how Matt Fitzpatrick grabbed a share of the lead at the Open on day one.

The second round has officially begun with the opening group teeing off from the first tee - among them Marc Leishman who was unhappy about how long it took to get around yesterday.

As first out today though there should be no problem as they can set the pace.

We'll keep you informed of any early movers from out on the course but also bring you the best reaction and highlights from Thursday's first round to help wake you up this morning.

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• 07:08 Ethan Fang (US)*, Rickie Fowler (US), Adam Scott (Aus)
• 07:19 Laurie Canter (Eng), Sergio Garcia (Spa), Elvis Smylie (Aus)
• 08:25 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (SA)
• 09:36 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Russell Henley (US), Min-Woo Lee (Aus)
• 09:47 Bryson DeChambeau (US), Robert MacIntyre (Sco), Justin Rose (Eng)
• 09:58 Ludvig Aberg (Swe), Viktor Hovland (Nor), Jordan Spieth (US)
• 10:09 Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Rory McIlroy (NI), Justin Thomas (US)
• 10:25 Harris English (US)
• 11:26 Padraig Harrington (Ire), Nicolai Hojgaard (Den), Tom McKibbin (NI)

Image source, Getty Images

Well that was a long old day yesterday wasn't it? Ready for another? Of course you are, it's the Open Championship!

OK, so it was a bit of a grind for those afternoon starters yesterday, but that's links golf for you with tough holes played in tough conditions - the true test of golf.

It was a fascinating day with Matt Fitzpatrick ending the round in a five-way share of the lead on what's a stacked, and packed, leaderboard with the top 44 players covered by just five shots - which is an important number as we'll show you later.

Tyrrell Hatton and Scottie Scheffler are just a shot back while Rory McIlroy struggled off the tee but managed to get home in one under so is right there.

It was a good day for veterans like Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia but Bryson DeChambeau endured yet another Open nightmare.

But what of today? More of the same please....