Joohyung Kim is enjoying his first appearance at the British Open. Rory McIlroy enjoyed his first hole at St. Andrews, too.
Kim, a 20-year-old South Korean, reached the turn at 4 under and was in a three-way tie for the lead with Min Woo Lee of Australia and Cameron Young of the United States.
With a third-place finish at the Scottish Open last week, Kim underlined his liking of links. He briefly shared the lead in the final round.
McIlroy, seeking his first major title since 2014, was standing out in his brown-and-yellow attire and began his round by holing a putt from more than 50 feet for birdie.
Ian Poulter is delivering his usual dose of drama, and it’s all good at the British Open.
The flamboyant Englishman began his round by coming within a few yards of going out-of-bounds. And then he closed out the front nine by holing a 50-yard putt from the opposite side of the ninth green for an eagle 2.
That puts Poulter at 3 under, tied among early starters with Brandon Wu.
Meanwhile, Justin Rose and Alex Noren are both out of the British Open, but only one of them will be playing this week. Rose says he felt pain in his lower back after a swing with his driver in practice Wednesday. He was on the range Thursday morning but decided he couldn’t go.
Noren was at St. Andrews earlier in the week as first alternate. He wound up leaving for California to play the PGA Tour event, losing his spot at St. Andrews.
Justin Rose has withdrawn from the British Open because of a back injury.
He has been replaced in the field by Rikuya Hoshino of Japan.
The No. 50-ranked Rose appeared to be struggling with a back problem as he walked off the course Wednesday in his practice round.
Rose finished tied for fourth as an amateur at Royal Birkdale in 1998. The Englishman has two other top-10 finishes at the Open, in 2015 and ‘18.
The silver claret jug was first awarded 150 years ago to the British Open champion. There it was Thursday morning on the first tee at St. Andrews as golf’s oldest championship began.
Paul Lawrie of Scotland, the Open champion from 1999, was selected to hit the first shot of this historic week that is all about the 150th edition at the home of golf. He used a yellow golf ball and found the wide fairway. The gutta-percha was the golf ball of choice in 1860 when the British Open began at Prestwick.
The 150th Open accounts for the championship being canceled by two world wars, one pandemic and one other occasion. The Open was not played in 1871 because Young Tom Morris had won the previous year for the third straight time. That meant he took possession of the champion’s belt. That’s the original trophy of the British Open.
It was a critical juncture for The Open. It was decided that the championship would rotate among Prestwick, St. Andrews and Musselburgh. By the time they got it sorted out, it was too late to play in 1871. They also decided on a new trophy — the claret jug.
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