The Open 2025 leaderboard live updates: Golf scores, Open Championship coverage, Round 1 at Royal Portrush

Rory’s wedges

A previous version of Rory McIlroy would be well over par with the way he has driven the golf ball today, but good news for him, this present version isn’t. McIlroy’s wedges have been stellar so far and are the main reason he is 2 under — and could possibly be even lower with a couple of short misses on the greens. Flighted, controlled and in rhythm, Rory’s short clubs have looked outstanding early in the proceedings.

Rory McIlroy makes the turn at 2 under, two off the lead

McIlroy got off to a shaky start with an opening bogey and fought some early left misses off the tee, but he’s steadily chipped away at the leaders, making the turn at 2 under, two shots back of the six players tied at the top at 4 under. It’s a considerable improvement from 2019, when McIlroy had shot himself out of contention by the time he arrived at the back nine on Thursday, and his dreams of winning The Open in his home country are very much still alive. 

Harris English and Christiaan Bezuidenhout make it a 5-way tie for the lead

There are now five tied at the top of the leaderboard at the 2025 Open Championship, as Harris English and Christiaan Bezuidenhout have it to 4 under in the afternoon wave to join Matt Fitzpatrick, Haotong Li and Jacob Skov Olesen who are in the clubhouse with 67s from this morning. English is off to a red-hot start with five birdies, 1 par and 1 bogey in his first seven holes to rocket up the leaderboard on his front nine. Bezuidenhout, meanwhile, made the leap into the lead thanks to a long eagle putt on the 12th hole that moved him to 4 under. 

Rory McIlroy moves to 2 under despite rocky start off the tee

A saucy gap wedge for his third shot on the par-5 7th set up McIlroy’s third birdie of the day, as he’s managed to climb the leaderboard without his best stuff off the tee so far. McIlroy’s nerves were on display on the first hole, as he scratched out a bogey after tugging his tee shot left with an iron and then missed a short par putt. However, he made that up quickly with a birdie on the second and added another with a long birdie putt on the short 5th to move into red figures for the first time. 

After missing his sixth fairway of the day on the par-5 7th, McIlroy had to lay up and found the first cut, but hit a phenomenal partial wedge that bounded up the hill and nearly rolled in for eagle. He cleaned that up for birdie and is now just two off the lead on what has become a condensed leaderboard at Royal Portrush. 

Afternoon wave getting a break with the wind and weather

The early-late dynamic at The Open is always something to monitor, and right now it seems like the afternoon wave is getting the best of the weather at Royal Portrush. The morning groups dealt with rain and gusty winds, but now that the rain has moved past the course the winds have also laid down a bit. That’s provided scoring opportunities for players in the afternoon and 21 of the 33 players who are under par are on the course currently. 

Now, some of that is the way the course plays, as the front nine played easier than the back for the early wave, and we’ll have to see if everyone can hold on to this scoring all the way to the clubhouse. Still, there are a lot of players going out in red figures right now and perhaps someone this afternoon can post a really low number to take early control of this championship. 

Bryson DeChambeau having a tough time on the 4th hole

DeChambeau’s struggles with links golf have been well documented, and while he spoke before the tournament about his confidence coming into The Open, it didn’t take long for Royal Portrush to get a lick in on the two-time U.S. Open champion. After opening with three straight pars, DeChambeau found the deep stuff on the long par-4 4th hole and needed a few hacks to just get out of the fescue on his way to a double bogey. 

Rahm, Schauffele firmly in this championship

A couple of seriously strong rounds from a couple of two-time major champions. Jon Rahm gets in at red figures through testing conditions with an opening 70. He hit his irons beautifully all day and had his chances to take it even deeper. Meanwhile, Xander Schauffele did unbelievably well to shoot 71. He was all over the map with his irons as he struggled with the varying winds, but made a big birdie on No. 17 from off the green to climb back to even.

Scottie Scheffler birdies the difficult 16th after the closest tee shot of the day

The world No. 1 is searching for his first Claret Jug and is off to a very solid start to his 2025 Open Championship, as he’s moved into T5 at 2 under thanks to an incredible birdie at the long par-3 16th. Calamity Corner doesn’t yield many birdies and the front right pin has been nearly impossible for the rest of the field to access, but Scheffler stuffed his tee shot inside four feet for the closest of the day to set up his fourth birdie on his round so far. 

Rory McIlroy stays in bounds off the 1st tee this time

The last time Rory McIlroy teed off on a Thursday at Royal Portrush, he hooked his tee shot out of bounds to the left and carded a quadruple bogey 8 that effectively ended his hopes of winning The Open in Northern Ireland as soon as it started. This year he once again tugged a long iron to the left, but kept it in play in the long fescue just off the fairway and can finally settle the nerves as that tee shot from 2019 had to be lingering in his mind.