Royal Troon 1, Golfers 0 - World's top players left battered and bruised in The Open

Royal Troon 1, Golfers 0. The score at the end of day one in the 152nd Open and all because the world’s top players encountered the Ayrshire links in a wind direction that was new to them.

It’s no secret, of course, that the inward journey here is regarded as the toughest part of this particular venue on the list of courses used by The R&A for the game’s oldest major.

Seeing the flags around the place showing that it was likely to be playing downwind in the first circuit, therefore, probably left a lot of them thinking they’d won a watch, so to speak, as the season’s final men’s major got underway. Wrong!

Four-time major winner Rory McIlroy escapes from a spot of bother at Royal Troon, where he opened with a seven-over-par 78. Picture: Tom Russo/The Scotsman

It’s hugely under-estimated how the front nine, which can be a bit of a pushover if the wind is blowing from the north, suddenly becomes a totally different proposition when it switches to the opposite direction.

Oh, and that back nine doesn’t suddenly become much easier just because you start thinking the wind is beginning to help rather than hinder. It’s one of the toughest stretches in golf no matter what direction the wind is coming from.

Just ask Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy. A few weeks after fighting out a dramatic finish to the US Open at Pinehurst, they were among those left battered and bruised at the end of their rounds. Even though he eagled the 16th, DeChambeau opened with a five-over 76 while McIlroy could only manage a 78.

“Yeah, it's a completely different test,” admitted DeChambeau, having had his wings clipped after arriving here feeling cock-a-hoop after winning his second major in North Carolina. “I didn't get any practice in it, and I didn't really play much in the rain. Yeah, it's a difficult test out here. Something I'm not familiar with. I never grew up playing it, and not to say that that's the reason; I finished eighth at St Andrews. I can do it when it's warm and not windy.”

Bryson DeChambeau plays a shot on the sixth hole on day one of The 152nd Open at Royal Troon. Picture: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images.

McIlroy’s untidy card included a double-bogey 5 at the Postage Stamp, where an attempt from out of a bunker came back to his feet, before then dropping another two shots in one go after sending his tee shot on to the Ayr to Glasgow railway line at the par-4 11th.

“Yeah, difficult day,” admitted the 2014 winner. “I felt like I did okay for the first part of the round and then missed the green at the Postage Stamp there and left it in and made a double. But still, felt like I was in reasonable enough shape being a couple over through nine, thinking that I could maybe get those couple shots back, try to shoot even par, something like that.

“Then hitting the ball out of bounds on 11, making a double there. Even though the wind on the back nine was helping, it was a lot off the left. I was actually surprised how difficult I felt like the back nine played. I thought we were going to get it a little bit easier than we did. The course was playing tough. The conditions are very difficult in a wind that we haven't seen so far this week.

“I guess when that happens, you play your practice rounds, you have a strategy that you think is going to help you get around the golf course, but then when you get a wind you haven't played in, it starts to present different options and you start to think about maybe hitting a few clubs that you haven't hit in practice. Yeah, just one of those days where I just didn't adapt well enough to the conditions.”

DeChambeau, who had come into this event with the best record of any player in the 2023 majors, found himself on the back foot straight away after an opening bogey-5 and limped to the turn in 42. “It was in and off the right and I was trying to draw the ball and the ball was knuckling a little bit,” he said. “It was a really difficult challenge, and I should have just cut the ball.”

He admitted it had been a “weird” day due to the colder conditions meaning he didn’t feel he compressed the golf ball as normal, but, as that late lift illustrated, he’s a fighter in these events and certainly deserves credit for that.

“I'm just proud of the way I persevered today,” said the American. “Shoot, man, I could have thrown in the towel after nine and could have been like, I'm going home. But, no, I've got a chance tomorrow. I'm excited for the challenge. If I have some putts go in and hit some shots the way I know how to and figure out this equipment stuff, I'll be good.”

McIlroy, meanwhile, has put himself in a similar precarious position as the 2019 event at Royal Portrush, where he opened with a 79 and was unable to retrieve the situation despite bouncing back with a 65 as he missed the cut by a shot in his native Northern Ireland.

“Yeah, just come out and try to play better and be here for the weekend,” he said of the assignment he now faces here. “The conditions look like they're going to be pretty similar again tomorrow and I have to do a better job in those conditions. I need to go out there and play better and try to shoot something under-par and at least be here for the weekend, if not try to put myself up the leaderboard a bit more and feel like I have half a chance.”

Henrik Stenson, the 2016 winner here, also faces a fight to be around for the weekend after a 77 left him sitting sandwiched between DeChambeau and McIlroy while others to be bitten by Troon’s teeth included world amateur No 1 Gordon Sargent as he had to settle for an 80, as did 2022 champion Cameron Smith.