Southport local said the ovation he received on the 18th was ‘incredibly special’ after his title chances fizzle out

Two o’clock on a sunny Sunday afternoon, five hours or so to go in the 154th Open Championship, and here comes Tommy Fleetwood up the 1st fairway, five shots off the lead. A delay in one of the groups up ahead meant that Fleetwood has had to stand and wait 15 minutes at the tee box, which is maybe why, when he finally got up to play his opening shot, he pulled it left into the rough stuff behind a fairway bunker. It was the first time he’d missed that shot all week.

From there, Fleetwood had caught his second shot a little thinner than he wanted. He shrugged as he followed its flight, twisted his lips into a grimace as he watched the ball drop and stop about 20 metres short of where it needed to be. “Head up, kid!” someone cried out. “Head up!”

Even if he does not lift the Claret Jug at Royal Birkdale, the American will still be the player everyone is talking about

Whip, crack, whoosh, Bryson DeChambeau’s opening shot flies into the distance, pitches, skips, and tumbles into the rough left of the fairway. By the time DeChambeau has reached the ball a big crowd has gathered around it, they’re standing on tiptoes, perched on mounds, tilting sideways to peer around the people in front, who are pressed right up against the ropes and even spilling underneath them and on to the playing area where the marshals, hands out, are trying to usher them back.

“Careful Bryson!” someone shouts out as he wades into the rough and, it never takes much, everyone breaks out laughing. Looking around, you notice how many people are watching all this through their phones. I start counting: one, five, 10, 20, 50 – people don’t just want to see DeChambeau play golf, they want to be able to show everyone they know that they’ve done it. Did you even go to the Open if you didn’t get to see him?

Chatty American in his first Open enjoys English trains and, despite a second-round blip, likes the links too

Did you hear the one about the kid from Tampa who won the Open in his very first week playing the links? If you didn’t, it’ll be because neither did he. Right now it’s still a maybe. Jackson Suber, 26, square jaw, slim hips, big swing, and very long odds, was two shots clear of the field at one point on Friday morning, and even after he dropped three shots in as many holes, he managed to reach the clubhouse in second place, on six under par. The general reaction was much the same as it had been the previous evening when he first shot to the top of the leaderboard. Suber who?

You need to be a pretty close follower of the PGA Tour, or heavily invested in the University of Mississippi golf program to have any real idea. On Thursday evening everyone in the media centre was scurrying around to find out something worth knowing. The first stop is his Open biography, which reveals that he qualified for the championship by finishing in a tie for fourth in the Canadian Open, that this is his third major appearance after he played in the US Open in 2024 (73rd) and 2026 (missed the cut), and that he recently finished fourth in the Byron Nelson. Hmm.