• American responds to six-time major winner’s jibe

• Surprise name at top of leaderboard

From no clue and no strategy to no explanation. Who or what is eating Bryson DeChambeau? Maybe the coming days will reveal all. Then again …

A fine and widely unexpected start to the 154th Open Championship was not sufficient to alter DeChambeau’s uncommunicative approach towards anybody who may not be inclined to tickle his tummy. Following a fifth major round in a row, DeChambeau declined the opportunity to speak to eagerly assembled media. One once so garrulous has lost his tongue.

The impact of a heatwave is laid bare by the Open venue’s scorched earth, making the competition for the Claret Jug even harder to gauge

A star was born in 1976 at Royal Birkdale. Seve Ballesteros was unable to press home his 54-hole advantage due to a combination of a Sunday 74 and Johnny Miller’s surge. Still, the swashbuckling style of the 19‑year‑old Spaniard captured hearts and minds. Ballesteros played golf – and successfully – from all parts of the famous links.

The 50th anniversary of Ballesteros’s emergence comes with an uncanny parallel: back at Birkdale, the grass is parched again. Firm, fiery, unpredictable Opens are the finest. Stand by, then, for a sporting feast over four days on the Sefton coast. Less green and pleasant land, more yellow brick road. Away from putting surfaces which have been lashed with water, the impact of a heatwave is laid bare.