Fleetwood can follow in the footsteps of Nick Faldo who won the famous Claret Jug at Muirfield in 1992. The last time a domestic golfer triumphed in The Open on English soil was in 1969, when Tony Jacklin won the trophy at Royal Lytham & St Annes.
The leading trio is one shot ahead of Antoine Rozner of France, Spain’s Adrian Otaegui and American Brian Harman. Bookmakers’ favorite and world number two Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland is tied for 32nd. World number one American Scottie Scheffler is in 19th position with a score of -1.
Defending champion Cameron Smith did not go well in the opening round. The Australian, who triumphed last year in St. Andrews to claim his first Big Four title, shot one over par and tied for 48th with 72 strokes.
The oldest golf tournament in the world is being played for record premiums this year. The winner collects three million dollars (about 66 million crowns) from a subsidy of 16.5 million. Smith collected $2.5 million last year.
The Open Championship, golf tournament of the major category in Hoylake (par 71, $16.5 million endowment) – after the 1st round: 1. a.m. Lamprecht (JAR), Fleetwood (Eng.), Grillo (Arg.) all 664. Rozner (Fr.), Otaegui (Sp.), Harman all 677. Cink, Clark, Homa (all USA), Norén (Sweden), Šarma (India), Stewart (Scot.) all 68