• 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.

Hole-by-hole updates from the first-round action at Royal Birkdale, with Rory McIlroy finding it hard going

Bob Mac aside, it’s still a wee while until some of the more fancied stars take to the course. Time for a little scene setting, then. Ladies and gentlemen, on the tee, Ewan Murray …

A fast start for Bob MacIntyre! He sends his opening tee shot into the rough down the left, and only just finds the front of the green with his second. But he rolls in a 45-footer and birdie is not a bad way to start the week! Oban’s finest already has three top-ten finishes at the Open on his resumé, including a tie for seventh at Portrush last year. Keep an eye out.

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.

• Staff told to eject hecklers among expected 300,000 fans

• Officials reject Faldo’s calls to fine miscreants $10,000

The R&A has warned golf fans who misbehave at the Open that they will be identified and slung out under its new code of conduct.

Its chairman, Mark Darbon, stopped short of endorsing calls by Sir Nick Faldo, the last Englishman to win an Open, for anyone that abuses a player to also be fined $10,000. However, he confirmed that a team of R&A staff, marshals and officials would be closely monitoring the expected 300,000 spectators at Royal Birkdale to ensure good behaviour.

The 154th Open starts at Royal Birkdale on Thursday with a host of compelling storylines to follow

Scottie Scheffler won the 2025 Open by four strokes, but the world No 1 arrives at Royal Birkdale having missed the cut at the Scottish Open last week. The out‑of‑form American has claimed his fewest wins in a season since 2021, having secured only one victory all year: the American Express tournament in January, in his first start of the year. Since then Scheffler has recorded four runner-up finishes, including at the Masters. “I didn’t really feel like I played that bad,” he said of his missed cut, his first in four years. “This golf course can be just tough at times.”