The last major championship of the year kicked off on Thursday morning, and Viktor Hovland perhaps had the worst day out on the course at Royal Liverpool.
It didn’t have anything to do with his score or his golf game, however. He was just incredibly unlucky.
Tommy Fleetwood and Emiliano Grillo took an early share of the lead at 5-under after Thursday’s round. They were joined by 6-foot-8 amateur Christo Lamprect. The rising senior at Georgia Tech earned his spot in the field this week after winning the Amateur Championship.
“I think the way I played today I earned to be on top of the leaderboard, as of now. It’s not a cocky thing to say,” he said. “I just personally think I believe in myself, and I guess stepping on to the first tee box if you’re a professional or a competitor, you should be believing that you should be the best standing there.”
Antoine Rozner, Adrian Otaegui and Brian Harman are tied at 4-under. Reigning US Open champion Wyndham Clark, who actually hit a fan’s iPad on Thursday, is among the group at 3-under. Brooks Koepka finished 1-under, a shot better than Rory McIlroy. Jon Rahm went 3-over in his opening round.
The British Open is offering a record $16.5 million purse this week, with $3 million going to the winner on Sunday afternoon. That prize pool is actually the smallest among the major championships. The R&A is prepared for demonstrations to break out on the course this week, too, although there is no direct intelligence that anything is planned.
Keep up with all of the action on Thursday with Yahoo Sports:
Where to stream the British Open
Looking for how to watch the British Open? With NBC airing the heart of this year’s tournament, you can easily stream most of the British Open on Peacock. If you have USA as a channel through a cable package or live TV streaming service, you can stream USA Network coverage at USANetwork.com. Don’t have USA Network in your regular TV lineup or access to your local NBC channel? Here’s what we recommend for how to stream the 2023 British Open:
(Peacock)
Starting at just $5.99 a month, a Peacock subscription is the easiest way to stream live sports and events airing on NBC, including the 2023 Open Championship! On top of access to the Royal Liverpool golf tournament, the streaming platform is the easiest way to stream most live sports and events airing on NBC. You’ll also get access to thousands of hours of shows and movies, including beloved sitcoms such as Parks and Recreation spirit The Office and even recent theatrical releases like the Super Mario movie. For $11.99 monthly you can upgrade to an ad-free subscription which includes live access to your local NBC affiliate (not just during designated sports and events) and the ability to download selected titles to watch offline.
$6 at Peacock
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