The early birds are on the long 12th with Tom McKibbin and Nicolai Hojgaard looking to atone for those doubles on the 11th.

Tom McKibbin takes advantage of the following wind to find the green in two and two putts from there for a welcome birdie.

Hojgaard is also in for a four. He found a fairway bunker, laid up and then fired a wedge in to 10 feet.

And Padraig Harrington makes it a hat-trick with a two-putt birdie.

Image source, PA Media

A sensational final-round 65 earned Xander Schauffele the Claret Jug this time last year at Troon.

That was the second of two majors for the American in 2024, but the defending champion has struggled a bit with his game and injury since then - albeit that ridiculous streak of more than three years since he last missed a cut remains intact.

Big applause for Schauffele from the crowd on the first tee and he finds the fairway, although it looks as though his ball might have come to rest in a small divot. How's your luck?

Alongside him in this opening round are the reigning US Open champion JJ Spaun and two-time major winner Jon Rahm, who is always a big favourite with the watching crowds.

Li Haotong matches Phil Mickelson's birdie on the seventh to join the American and Lee Westwood in the Open Championship lead.

Tidy starts for English pair Jordan Smith and Matthew Jordan, who are both on -1 early in their rounds.

Smith almost joined the leaders with three straight birdies but came up short at seven to stay at one under par.

Not sure 23-year-old American Akshay Bhatia has ever been to Northern Ireland before but he's got an immaculate read on the greens there, saving par from 21 feet.

He's joined on four by Sepp Straka of Austria. It's an ugly double bogey for Ben Griffin though.

Image source, Getty Images

The last time The Open was played at Royal Portrush it was won by a certain Shane Lowry.

It was a truly memorable occasion as an Irishman ended the 68-year wait to crown an Open champion on the island of Ireland.

Both Lowry, who tees off at 10:09 BST today, and BBC golf correspondent Iain Carter have been looking back on that day.

"The Saturday afternoon, the last few holes was the most incredible experience my whole career," Lowry said.

"Like, Sunday it was unbelievable, but Saturday was one of those days that I will remember forever."

Lowry and Carter recall incredible 2019 win

Image source, Getty Images

Scottie Scheffler may be world number one but he's not the top dog around Royal Portrush today as Shane Lowry is back at the course he won the Claret Jug at in 2019.

So he'll get a huge reception and have the crowd roaring him on all the way will the man who has his face on a huge mural in the town.

I don't fellow former Open champion Collin Morikawa has one near Royal St George's though...

Sam Burns was right in the mix to win the US Open at Oakmont last month, before drifting out of contention in the closing holes.

He's playing alongside five-time major champion Brooks Koepka, who finished in a tie for fourth when the Open was last played at Royal Portrush in 2019.

South African Aldrich Potgieter, a winner on the PGA Tour at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in June, completes the three-ball.

Burns and Koepka are safely down the first fairway, Potgieter in the left rough.

What year is it?

Lee Westwood and Phil Mickelson share the Open lead!

Portrush's fifth hole, White Rocks, is one of those notorious ones. A dramatic risk-and-reward par-four where if you're willing to flirt with going out of bounds, you could cash in.

And for Lee Westwood, it's an opportunity to keep his positive start going.

Boy does he take it. Tee shot to the edge of the green, knock to within a couple of feet and takes away a birdie.

Into a share of the lead.

What The Open gods give with one hand...

After rough trouble down the 11th, two of our joint leaders are our joint leaders no more. Both walk off 11 with double-bogey sixes.

Ouch.

When Shane Lowry won in 2019, there was plenty of British interest milling round the top 10.

Quite surprisingly, English duo Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrrell Hatton are still waiting for their first major title, despite performing creditably on numerous occasions over the intervening years.

A tie for sixth was the best finish for Scotland's Bob MacIntyre until he came runner-up at the US Open last month, while 2016 Masters champion Danny Willett failed to qualify this time.

American heavyweights Tony Finau, Rickie Fowler and Patrick Reed are all here again but this time are not among the favourites.

Reigning champion Xander Schauffele should be in contention - he finished in a tie for 41st in 2019.

Finally, after missing the cut last time, Rory McIlroy will hope to put up a far greater challenge this year.

In case you were wondering where Griffin's ball has ended up, it's almost next to the path on the left hand side, way wide of that bunker.

No wonder he's pulled out a long iron to try again off the tee.

Shades of Rory McIlroy off the first tee in 2019 there from talented American Ben Griffin.

He's broken through this year in some style with two wins on the PGA Tour but that is a skewed drive way left and out of bounds.

Not how he'd pictured starting off his quest here at Portrush.

The first three out on the course have reached the 11th. The hardest hole on the course in 2011.

And Tom McKibbin is in a world of hurt here. There are dozens of people searching for his ball in among the thick ferns down the right. He finds it but it's properly buried.

A first swipe to try and just come out sideways proves fruitless. He changes tack second time round and advances his ball down the fairway. That could have been so much worse.

Brilliantly played hole by Phil Mickelson to lift him into a share of the lead with a birdie four on the seventh.

His approach with a long iron landed on the green and just whizzed by the flag, with a nice eagle putt just pulling up hole high and leave a tap-in for birdie.

Phil can still golf his ball - as they say.

Jonathan Bradley
BBC Sport NI senior journalist at Royal Portrush

It really is quite the scene on the 11th. An army of fans with umbrellas poking through the bushes looking for Nicolai Hojgaard's ball while Padraig Harrington himself leads the charge with an iron.

"Callaway," he says as he finds one...but not Hojgaard's.

Tom McKibbin found his ball, but maybe he wishes he hadn't...

The 11th was the hardest hole on the course in 2019 and is predicted to be the same again. Good luck everyone.

We catch up with Lee Westwood on the fourth green and once again, he's putting for birdie and this time from 10 feet.

He has been dialled in today with his approaches.

His putt doesn't quite drop so it's another par.

One of the big topics in the build-up to this tournament were some emotional comments made by world number one Scottie Scheffler.

He has won three major titles, Olympic gold and has been top of the rankings for 112 consecutive weeks but has been considering why he even plays the sport.

"This is not a fulfilling life," the American said.

"It's fulfilling from the sense of accomplishment but it's not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart.

"There are a lot of people that make it to what they thought was going to fulfil them in life, and you get there, you get to number one in the world, and they're like, 'what's the point?'

"I really do believe that because, what is the point? Why do I want to win this tournament so bad? That's something that I wrestle with on a daily basis."