Southport, England. The depth of talent throughout pro golf globally has intensified throughout each year of the 21st century. Credit the career of Tiger Woods for providing such an incentive for young aspiring golfers to enter the competitive arena. Indicative of that ongoing trend is the wide variety of players and countries on display at this year’s Open Championship.

Familiarity with links golf has proven to be a clear asset for many through the years of The Open but the outright leader at the 154th Open is an American named Jason Suber.

The 26-year-old had never been to Europe until this week and to add to his newness is his lack of any prior experience in playing a links course. In fact, this week’s event marks only his third appearance in a major championship. He competed in last month’s US Open at Shinnecock Hills and missed the cut.

Suber played collegiately at the University of Mississippi and was a standout player there. He turned professional in 2022 and followed the predictable pathway that many aspiring golf talents take in working their way up to the PGA Tour via a successful stint competing on the Korn Ferry Tour and earning his Tour card.

Interestingly, Suber’s 65 was scored during the more turbulent wind conditions prevalent in the afternoon period of round one.

Ranked 115th in the world, Suber’s golf form on the PGA Tour has seen a steady rise of consistency. After a slow start in 2026 that featured four missed cuts in eight events, Suber raised the level of his play with a fourth-place finish at The CJ Cup Byron Nelson.

Two other high finishes have been accomplished since then – a T4 at the RBC Canadian Open and a T6 at the recently held John Deere Classic. It was his high finish in the Canadian Open that provided him entry into The Open Championship.

Suber’s opening nine holes proved to be a wash between two birdies and two bogies. But when he reached the inward half, his momentum got started with birdies at the 10th and 11th holes.

“Things just really started going after the birdie on 10. I just felt like the momentum was really in my favor,” said Suber. “Just kind of kept the ball in good spots and didn’t put much pressure on my game to make pars.”

A lone bogey occurred at the par-4 13th but that was quickly righted with a stellar finish that included two birdies at 14 and 16 and the highlight of the round scoring an eagle at the par-5 17th.

His opening round of 65 leads England’s Daniel Brown and South Korea’s Sungjae Im by one. Nine golfers are another shot back at 67 — includingtwo-time US Open winner Bryson DeChambeau. World number one player Scottie Scheffler is in a large group another shot back at 68.

What did Suber know of Royal Birkdale before actually playing the course?

“I think I watched a YouTube video on every hole at Birkdale on Friday last week or Thursday, but besides that, yeah, just — I have a stats guy that’s helped me, of course, so just knowing that the pot bunkers are no good and stay out of those.”

A Suber victory would be reminiscent of another equally unknown player — Ben Curtis who captured the Claret Jug in his first major appearance when winning The Open at Royal St. George’s in 2003.

Suber is well aware such discussion is premature at this point. He knows the demands of links course can quickly change but his anxiety is more acute with another aspect in coming to the UK for the first time.

When asked if he had ever driven on the other side of the road, Suber replied he had not done so. When pressed why not — his matter-of-fact retort was succinct and on point — “Because I’m trying to make it here for four days.”

All eyes will now be watching if Suber can avoid a debilitating golf crash over the next 54 holes. A steady hand and resolute discipline will be certainly called upon.

Thisa & Thata

• Following Louis Oosthuizen’s withdrawal there are 14 former Champions playing at Royal Birkdale this year, two fewer than last year at Royal Portrush.

• With the last four places in the field claimed through the Genesis Scottish Open and the Last Chance Qualifier there are still players from 28 countries in the field for The 154th Open.

• Louis Oosthuizen’s withdrawal did not affect the numbers as his place was taken by fellow South African, Aldrich Potgieter. The countries are (number of players in brackets): Argentina (1), Australia (7), Austria (2), Belgium (1), Canada (2), Chile (1), China (1), Colombia (1), Denmark (3), England (21), Finland (1), France (6), Germany (2), Ireland (4), Italy (2), Japan (8), Netherlands (1), New Zealand (3), Northern Ireland (3), Norway (3), Scotland (2), South Africa (8), South Korea (6), Spain (6), Sweden (5), Thailand (1), USA (54) and Zimbabwe (1). Jackson Suber 65 (-5)

• Jackson Suber is playing in The Open for the first time and is leading after the first round. Four of the past five Opens have been led, or jointly-led, after the first round by a player competing in their first Open (2022 – Cameron Young, 2023 – Christo Lamprecht, 2024 – Dan Brown, 2026 – Jackson Suber).

• Suber’s round featured an eagle at the par-five 17th and six birdies, playing the second nine in 31 (five-under-par). Dan Brown and Sungjae Im 66 (-4) Playing in his third Open, Dan Brown is towards the top of the leaderboard for the second time after the first round.

• Brown led in 2024 at Royal Troon with a 65 in the first round. Brown’s round today featured seven birdies. Brown finished tied-tenth at Royal Troon. Sungjae Im is playing in his sixth Open and equaled his best round with a 66 (previously scored at Royal Troon in the third round of 2024). Im finished tied-seventh at Royal Troon.

• Bryson DeChambeau’s first round of 67 is his fourth consecutive round under 70 in The Open (second round 2025 to first round 2026). DeChambeau’s last four rounds in The Open of 65, 68, 64, 67 add up to 264, which would equal the lowest winning total in any previous staging of The Open (Henrik Stenson, 2016 at Royal Troon). In his ninth appearance in the Championship, DeChambeau’s round of 67 is his lowest first round in The Open.

• Francesco Molinari 67 (-3) sits in the group of nine players at three-under-par. The 2018 Champion scored his best round in The Open since the third round of 2022 in his 18th appearance.

• Scottie Scheffler’s round of 68 was the lowest score by a defending Champion in the first round since Zach Johnson’s opening 67 in the first round of 2016. Scheffler is on a current streak of five consecutive rounds under 70 in The Open (first round 2025 to first round 2026). The record for most consecutive rounds under 70 is seven by Ernie Els (first round 1993 to third round 1994).

• The Champion in 2022, today’s round of 68 is Collin Morikawa’s first round under 70 in The Open since his triumph at Royal St George’s.

• Royal Birkdale member Matthew Baldwin hit the first tee shot of The 154th Open at 6:35 this morning. Baldwin qualified through Final Qualifying at Dundonald (69, 71 – 140, -4) finishing in joint-second place and is making his fourth appearance in The Open (first since 2019). Baldwin’s best performance in The Open came on his debut in 2012 at Royal Lytham and St Annes when he finished tied-23rd. Baldwin scored a two-over-par 72 in the first round.

• Hardest /Easiest Hole: The hardest hole of the first round was the 6th with a stroke average of 4.353. There were ten birdies, 89 pars, 50 bogeys, six double-bogeys and one other, a seven for Matthew Jordan. The easiest hole of the day was the par-5 17th with a stroke average of 4.699, one of six holes that played under par (the 2nd, 5th, 9th, 10th, 14th and 17th).

• There were three eagles, 62 birdies, 72 pars, 17 bogeys and two double-bogeys on the 17th. The eagles were scored by Jackson Suber, Tom Sloman and Harry Hall.

• Bogey-free rounds: Ryo Hisatsune (68) and Kristoffer Reitan (69) were the only players that managed to complete bogey-free rounds in the first round of The 154th Open. There were 14 bogey-free rounds in total in The Open at Royal Birkdale in 2017.

• Longest Drive, Fairways Hit and Greens in Regulation: Alistair Docherty averaged the longest drive in the first round with 364.1 yards. Drives are measured on the 14th and the 17th. Gary Woodland hit the longest drive of the day with a drive of 372.4 yards on the 14th.

• Scottie Scheffler was at the top for driving accuracy in the first round with 13 of 14 fairways hit.

• Alex Fitzpatrick was the most accurate in the greens in regulation statistic hitting 17 of the 18 greens.

• Jackson Suber was the best putter in the first round, taking 24 putts over the 18 holes, an average of 1.33 putts per green.

• Amateur Leaderboard:

Player	Score
Lev Grinberg	71 (+1)
Alejandro de Castro Piera	73 (+3)
Mason Howell	73 (+3)
Jack Buchanan	73 (+3)
Tim Wiedemeyer	73 (+3)
David Howard	74 (+4)
Fifa Laopakdee	75 (+5)
Mateo Pulcini	75 (+5)
Nevill Ruiter	76 (+6)
Stuart Grehan	77 (+7)

• Eventual Champions’ Positions: After the first round getting off to a good start at The Open is nearly a must. In the 122 Opens to have been held since the format was changed to 72-holes in 1892, 113 Champions have been within five strokes of the lead after the first round. Only nine Champions have not been within five strokes of the lead after the first round (JH Taylor 1895 – six strokes behind the lead; Harry Vardon 1896 – eleven behind; James Braid 1906 – six behind; George Duncan 1920 – eight behind; Walter Hagen 1929 – six behind; Gary Player 1959 – seven behind; Peter Thomson 1965 – six behind; Seve Ballesteros 1979 – eight behind; Mark O’Meara 1998 – seven behind). Harry Vardon’s comeback from eleven strokes behind after the first round is the biggest of these comebacks by a Champion.

• In the last 45 Opens, only one player has come back from more than five strokes behind after the first round (O’Meara 1998). Similarly, of those 122 Opens, only nine players have won The Open after not being in the top 20 at the end of the first round (George Duncan 1920 – tied 24th after the first round; Gary Player 1959 – tied 40th; Peter Thomson 1965 – tied 23rd; Mark Calcavecchia 1989 – tied 25th; Ian Baker Finch 1991 – tied 29th; Mark O’Meara 1998 – tied 62nd; Ernie Els 2002 – tied 23rd; Todd Hamilton 2004 – tied-40th; Pádraig Harrington 2008 – tied-38th). Mark O’Meara’s comeback from tied-62nd is the biggest comeback in terms of position on the leaderboard. 26 of the 122 Champions since 1892 have been in the lead or joint-lead after the first round. The last player to do so was Jordan Spieth at Royal Birkdale in 2017.

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