Adam Scott the early stand-out as the 152nd Open tees off

By Carl Markham, PA

Former Masters champion Adam Scott’s brilliant touch from the sand produced an early highlight on the first morning of the 152nd Open at Royal Troon.

Scoring was more difficult than expected for the traditionally-easier front nine as the wind was into the players’ faces, not a direction they had practised in, and as a result birdies were at a premium.

Scott’s three at the first came after he pulled his approach into a greenside bunker, from where he splashed out and watched it roll into the hole.

That put briefly put him into a share of the lead before Younghan Song went clear on two under after back-to-back birdies at the second and third.

However, shortly afterwards the rain arrived just before 8am to make conditions even more testing.

None more so than for Australian amateur Jasper Stubbs, whose Open debut began with a tee shot carved out of bounds for a double-bogey

Former champion Justin Leonard had got the proceedings under way in overcast and breezy conditions.

The 52-year-old, who has an exemption for another eight years as a result of his victory here in 1997, has not appeared in a major since the Open was last in Ayrshire in 2016 as he now plays on the Champions Tour.

Before the first shot there was a moment of reflection for Ivor Robson, the official Open starter for more than 50 years, who died in October and whose family were present on the tee.

Leonard’s playing partner Todd Hamilton, another Troon champion who at 58 has only two years left in the event, found out to his cost how penal the links bunkers can be at the third after shanking his attempted escape into the face, hitting out sideways and finishing with a triple-bogey seven.

The current likely contenders for the Claret Jug were not due out until later in the day, with Rory McIlroy looking to put last month’s US Open near miss behind him when he tees off at 10.09am.

Just ahead of him, at 9.36am, is the group comprising two-time major winner Jon Rahm and his Ryder Cup team-mates Tommy Fleetwood and Sunday’s Scottish Open champion Bob MacIntyre in front of an expectant home crowd.

World number four Ludvig Aberg and Bryson DeChambeau – the US Open winner – and defending champion Brian Harman and Viktor Hovland are due to head out in the two groups immediately preceding McIlroy’s.

Big names out in the afternoon include Tiger Woods, out with US PGA champion Xander Schauffele and his Ryder Cup team-mate Patrick Cantlay, and world number one Scottie Scheffler – looking for his seventh win of the year.

Henrik Stenson, the winner of an epic final-day tussle with Phil Mickleson when the Open was last held here eight years ago, is due out at 12.42pm.