The highly anticipated 2025 Open Championship has kicked off at Royal Portrush, and golfers are vying for a chance to lift the Claret Jug this year.

McIlroy scrapped on Thursday to end -1 and three shots behind the leaders, with Scottie Scheffler and Tyrrell Hatton just one stroke back heading into Friday’s second round

As Fleetwood gets ready to compete in another major title close to home, his relationship with wife Clare is back in the headlines. The two share a 22-year age gap, though neither seem to give it too much thought other than when the later claimed Fleetwood was a bit too young for her when they first met.

Rory McIlroy looked like delivering the show the thousands who had flocked to Royal Portrush to cheer their returning hero expected, only for his bid for the first-round Open lead to collapse in the space of four holes on the back nine.

The final major of the golfing year takes place this week as the Open Championship takes place at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland – with Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood both teeing off

SportsLine golf expert Brady Kannon just locked in his PGA Tour best bets for the 2025 British Open at Royal Portrush Golf Club

Rory McIlroy is grouped with Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Thomas for first two rounds at Royal Portrush. McIlroy has late-early draw as he hopes for victory on home-soil and another Open win. The world No 2 missed the cut when the tournament was last held at this venue in 2019 but golf fans can watch him tee off at 3.10pm this afternoon, July 17.

Fleetwood may be the best golfer in the world never to have won a major, let alone a single PGA Tour tournament.

Apparently, someone must have been trying operate with some haste and neglected to rake a bunker at the par-4 fifth hole. Fleetwood’s drive found that unraked fairway bunker, and he was forced to play his bole in a footprint.

Tommy Fleetwood, a seasoned golfer with nearly a decade of top-level experience, seeks his first major win at Royal Portrush, where he previously finished second in the 2019 Open. Despite earning over $30 million on the PGA Tour and consistently ranking among the world's best,

It was the moment the majority of Royal Portrush fans on opening day of the Open Championship had been waiting to see – as Masters champion and Northern Ireland hero Rory McIlroy stepped up to end the anticipation and tee off around 3pm on Thursday.