Ian Poulter still has his nose ahead. He's getting up and down more successfully than a window cleaner with a full day of jobs. The early leader finds another enclave of sand on the par-4 10th, elegantly using his wedge to scoop out his ball and land it within a putter's length of a par.

Alfie Plant on the 6th... he's ended up in one of those two bunkers lurking in front of the right side of the green. For those with us earlier, that's the same place Poulter was an hour or so ago.

Plant, the English amateur, gently splashes out, leaving him with a short par putt.

Image source, Getty Images

Alistair Bruce-Ball
Radio 5 live commentator at Royal Birkdale

Tommy Fleetwood is so distinctive out on the fairways with his long hair and, being the local boy, he came out to probably the loudest roar of the morning. The locals here are very excited to see how Tommy gets on.

Tommy Fleetwood is the name on everyone's lips this week.

That's because the 26-year-old local lad has risen to a career-high 14th in the world rankings, from 188th last September.

Four top-10 finishes towards the end of last season began the journey and two victories this year, including the French Open a couple of weeks ago have catapulted him into the limelight.

Not to mention his rock star long locks. A rapturous reception greets Fleetwood as he swaggers onto the first tee, if that roar is topped today then I'll be surprised.

He's up and running with a par.

Image source, Reuters

Conor McNamara
BBC Radio 5 live commentator at Royal Birkdale

Ian Poulter has come through the qualifiers to make it here at The Open. He missed The Open last year and didn't play at the Ryder Cup because of injury, but he is the sort of player who will feed off the crowd.

Three Englishman at the top of the leaderboard. Could it happen? No Englishman has won the Open since Nick Faldo in 1992.

That's the year Alfie Plant was born....

Ian Poulter has got a glowing iron poker in his hand. His putter is red hot.

The 41-year-old Englishman, back in the groove after a plummeting down the rankings over the past year or so, sinks another 10-foot(ish) birdie putt on the par-four ninth.

He moves back above compatriots Justin Rose and Alfie Plant intot he outright lead.

Iain Carter
BBC Sport golf correspondent at Royal Birkdale

Justin Rose's drive went slightly into the semi rough, his approach shot was around 170 yards and he knocked it to six feet. He knew that his birdie putt was going in as soon as he hit it.

He's a player who has an awful lot of serenity on the big occasions and that birdie will settle him and give him the perfect platform.

A red carpet might as well be rolled out up to the first tee. Big names are turning up every few minutes.

Henrik Stenson and Jordan Spieth kick off with opening pars before Justin Rose - a short walk behind them - flights a delightful approach to within a broomstick of the hole. He sweeps away the birdie putt to join Ian Poulter and Alfie Plant on one under

The red and white of the St George Cross is splattered all over the top of the leaderboard.

Image source, PA

Image source, Getty Images

This par-70 drag, established in 1889, has hosted the Open 10 times now.

It sports just two par-five holes, so scoring is tight at Royal Birkdale.

The par-four sixth will make your eyes water as players will likely have around 200 yards left to the green after their tee shot. Throughout their rounds, players will battle deep pot bunkers and long grass surrounding greens. The shortest of four par-three holes comes in at around 177 yards, so they'll be using a decent iron off the tee.

Oh and the real jewel in the crown of this course is the fact it's just a two-minute drive from Southport Pleasureland, where you can ride Dumbo, tea cups and a giant caterpillar. I bet Phil Mickelson is heading there pronto.

BBC Radio 5 live

Stuck at the office and need to keep up with everything from Birkdale? We've got your back. As well as following all the words here, you can also listen to 5 live's comprehensive coverage.

Commentators Conor McNamara, Vassos Alexander, John Murray, Iain Carter and Alistair Bruce-Ball, along with expert analysts Andrew Murray, David Leadbetter, Jay Townsend, Des Smyth and Carin Koch, have their microphones at the ready as they quietly follow the key groups.

Emma Plant is feeling a bit sick. Has she overindulged at the ice cream van behind her already? Or is she just nervous because her son Alfie is playing at the Open?

Knock, knock, knock. The big men are turning up at the Birkdale door.

Defending champion Henrik Stenson and two-time major winner Jordan Spieth are here and ready to gatecrash this all-English party, currently being hosted by Ian Poulter and Alfie Plant.

Decent start from both players as they find the shortest cut of grass in front of them. That's the fairway. obvs.

Image source, PA

Image source, Getty Images

Henrik Stenson is bidding to become the first back-to-back winner of the Open for nine years?

Padraig Harrington was the last player to successfully defend the Open title, coincidentally when it was last staged at Royal Birkdale in 2008.

But Stenson's form this season has been something of a mixed bag, with five top-10 finishes and four missed cuts, two of those coming in the Masters and US Open.

However, the 41-year-old Swede was third at Birkdale in 2008 after recovering from an opening 76, so he knows how to get it around this drag.

Alfie Plant in second? Make that the joint lead. Ian Poulter finds another sandtrap in front of the seventh green, the ball ending up close the front edge. Ooof, this is tricky.

Poulter has to go down on his left knee, not like a marriage proposal position, more a hamstring-stretching position, sticking out his right leg and lowering his arms into the bunker.

Most of us would do ourselves an injury trying this. Poults scoops it out and within 10 foot of the stick. Not enough to save par this time, however.

Not heard of Alfie Plant? You'd better check him up on your favourite free online encyclopedia. Actually, he has probably not even got his own page.

Let me enlighten you. Plant, a 25-year-old from Bexleyheath in Kent, qualified for his first Open by winning the European Amateur Championship at Walton Heath a couple of weeks back.

And he's second on the leaderboard! A birdie on the first - only the second of the day on the tough opener - puts him a shot behind Ian Poulter.

Image source, PA

Some app users might have to click on the link to see the tweet.

You know the most remarkable thing about Ian Poulter this morning? Not that he is leading the early running. Nope, it is that he has not got a speck of dirt on those John Travolta pants.

Ian Poulter, decked out in crisp white trousers, tight purple body-warmer and white cap, is still teeth and fist clenching his way around the Birkdale greens.

The Englishman dumps his approach to the 6th green into one of the two bunkers guarding the front right of the green like a pair of rottweilers. They're hungry.

Poults takes a good chunk of the brown stuff with a powerful out-to-in wedge, then sinks a 12-foot putt for a sandy par.

There are some big names heading onto the course shortly after you get to work. So tune in at the office and tell the boss you're grafting hard.

Here's a selection but for a full list of tee times, click here.

09:47 Henrik Stenson (Swe), Kim Si-woo (Kor), Jordan Spieth

09:58 Louis Oosthuizen (SA), Justin Rose (Eng), Justin Thomas

10:09 Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Tommy Fleetwood (Eng)