Key events

3h agoPreamble

Robert MacIntyre suffers a costly mistake at the 8th. He pulls a short four-foot par putt wide right. After charging the comeback three feet past and glancing about in search of an excuse, he steadies himself to hole the bogey putt. He slips to -1.

-3: Detry (11)
-2: A Fitzpatrick (8)
-1: Hillier (10), Stenson (8), MacIntyre (8), Perez (2)

2009 champion Stewart Cink begins with a triple-bogey seven. Birkdale does not always welcome past winners warmly.

Shifts at the summit. Thomas Detry chips a wedge from a tricky spot right of the 10th green to four feet and converts the birdie. Alex Fitzpatrick then drains a 20-footer on the par-three 7th.

-3: Detry (10)
-2: MacIntyre (7), A Fitzpatrick (7)

Ten amateurs are competing at Birkdale this week. Mateo Pulcini, the 25-year-old Latin America Amateur champion from Argentina, opens with a par at the 1st and earns warm applause from a respectful gallery.

Alex Fitzpatrick produces a superb lag on the 6th. From 57 feet on the front of the par-four green, his big left-to-right putt curls almost 90 degrees around a hump to finish two inches away. He taps in for par and sits at -1 after birdies at 4 and 5 offset an earlier bogey.

Matthew Jordan, a two-time recent Open top-ten finisher, endures a tough start. Three straight bogeys at 3, 4 and 5 are followed by a triple-bogey seven at the par-four 6th, dropping him to +6.

Thomas Detry adds another birdie, holing a 15-footer at 8. Joe Dean misses an eight-footer at 5 and stays off the lead.

-2: Detry (8), MacIntyre (4)
-1: Hillier (7), Stenson (5), Homa (5), Dean (5), Southgate (3), J Smith (2)

Thomas Detry bounces back with birdie at the short 7th. He finds the green with his tee shot and converts from eight feet. Joe Dean also birdies the 4th. Only four players sit under par with 24 golfers on the course.

-2: MacIntyre (3)
-1: Detry (7), Dean (4), Southgate (2)

Padraig Harrington calls the 514-yard 6th the toughest hole on the front nine. Thomas Detry zig-zags through rough before wedging to 15 feet and saving bogey to return to level par, matching his partner Matthew Baldwin.

Two English players are now in red figures. Attention turns to home hopes including Southgate, Baldwin, Fleetwood and Fitzpatrick aiming for the first English win on home soil since 1969.

Matthew Southgate, sixth here in 2017, opens with a birdie at 1. Matthew Baldwin birdies 5, yet Robert MacIntyre leads after a birdie-birdie start featuring an iron to 18 inches at 2.

-2: MacIntyre (2)
-1: Baldwin (5), Detry (5), Southgate (1)

With bigger names yet to start, the scene is set for the early action.

Bob MacIntyre starts fast. His tee shot finds left rough but he rolls in a 45-footer for birdie at the 1st. The Oban man has three prior Open top tens.

-1: Detry (4), MacIntyre (1)

Joe Dean pars the 1st after chipping close from a swale. Thomas Detry remains the lone early birdie maker.

Joe Dean finds right rough off the 1st tee. The Sheffield golfer has made the cut in his two prior Opens and arrives after winning the Last Chance Qualifier with an eagle at the new 14th.

Louis Oosthuizen withdrew earlier in the week. South African Aldrich Potgieter takes his spot after receiving a light-hearted text from the 2010 champion about owing beer.

The weather. Sunny conditions are forecast all day with a slight breeze increase later, affecting afternoon starters more than the calm early groups.

James Nicholas limits damage to bogey at 1. Matthew Baldwin pars while Thomas Detry claims the first birdie of the championship with a wedge to eight feet. The opening group shows varied results.

-1: Detry (1)
E: Baldwin (1)
+1: Nicholas (1)

James Nicholas, making his Open debut, hooks his tee shot at 1. He chips sideways from a bush and finds a swale, setting up the first bogey of the week.

Matthew Baldwin, the local 40-year-old, strikes the opening tee shot down the right side. Thomas Detry drives powerfully while James Nicholas hooks left into trouble.

Preamble

Good morning and welcome to live coverage of the 154th Open Championship. Contenders include world number one Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy seeking another major, local favourite Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose. Many others remain in contention as play begins under calm conditions. The full tee times follow (all BST) …

6.35 am: Matthew Baldwin, Thomas Detry, James Nicholas
6.46 am: Michael Kim, Daniel Hillier, Andy Sullivan
6.57 am: Ryan Fox, Andrew Novak, Matthew Jordan
7.08 am: Henrik Stenson, Max Homa, Joe Dean
7.19 am: Robert MacIntyre, Rickie Fowler, Alex Fitzpatrick
7.30 am: David Duval, Martin Couvra, Matthew Southgate
7.41 am: Sungjae Im, Daniel Brown, Fifa Laopakdee (a)
7.52 am: Gary Woodland, Jake Knapp, Jordan Smith
8.03 am: Francesco Molinari, Tom McKibbin, Lev Grinberg (a)
8.14 am: Hennie du Plessis, Jose Luis Ballester, Dan Bradbury
8.25 am: Angel Ayora, Victor Perez, Mateo Pulcini (a)
8.36 am: Stewart Cink, Scott Vincent, Joakim Lagergren
8.47 am: Michael Thorbjornsen, Kota Kaneko, Travis Smyth
9.03 am: Alex Smalley, Sam Stevens, Ryo Hisatsune
9.14 am: Akshay Bhatia, Harris English, Rasmus Hojgaard
9.25 am: Ben Griffin, Hideki Matsuyama, Min Woo Lee
9.36 am: Russell Henley, Justin Rose, Viktor Hovland
9.47 am: Justin Thomas, Alex Noren, Jason Day
9.58 am: Scottie Scheffler, Tyrrell Hatton, Bryson DeChambeau
10.09 am: Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm
10.20 am: Brian Harman, Si Woo Kim, Nick Taylor
10.31 am: Ryan Gerard, Maverick McNealy, David Puig
10.42 am: Kazuma Kobori, Tom Sloman, David Howard (a)
10.53 am: Antoine Rozner, Ren Yonezawa, Caleb Surratt
11.04 am: MJ Daffue, Frederic Lacroix, Jack McDonald
11.15 am: Jeongwoo Ham, Ryutaro Nagano, Alejandro De Castro Piera (a)
11.41 am: John Parry, Eric Cole, Tiger Christensen
11.52 am: Eugenio Chacarra, Matt Wallace, Max Greyserman
12.03 pm: Michael Brennan, Sahith Theegala, Laurie Canter
12.14 pm: Cameron Smith, Keith Mitchell, Stuart Grehan (a)
12.25 pm: Sepp Straka, Joaquin Niemann, Kurt Kitayama
12.36 pm: Sami Valimaki, Shaun Norris, Jackson Suber
12.47 pm: Darren Clarke, Adrien Saddier, Bernd Wiesberger
12.58 pm: Keegan Bradley, Corey Conners, Casey Jarvis
1.09 pm: Matt McCarty, Harry Hall, Haotong Li
1.20 pm: Padraig Harrington, Marco Penge, Michael Hollick
1.31 pm: Tom Kim, Billy Horschel, Mason Howell (a)
1.42 pm: Johnny Kiefer, Pierceson Coody, Keita Nakajima
1.53 pm: Aldrich Potgieter, Jesper Svansson, Jack Buchanan (a)
2.09 pm: Bud Cauley, Jayden Schaper, Lucas Herbert
2.20 pm: Kristoffer Reitan, Patrick Reed, JT Poston
2.31 pm: Chris Gotterup, Sam Burns, Adam Scott
2.42 pm: Collin Morikawa, JJ Spaun, Nicolai Hojgaard
2.53 pm: Shane Lowry, Aaron Rai, Brooks Koepka
3.04 pm: Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark, Ludvig Aberg
3.15 pm: Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick
3.26 pm: Jacob Bridgeman, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Tim Wiedemeyer (a)
3.37 pm: Patrick Cantlay, Daniel Berger, Nico Echavarria
3.48 pm: Peter Uihlein, Alistair Docherty, Francesco Laporta
3.59 pm: Cameron John, Austen Truslow, Sam Bairstow
4.10 pm: Naoyuki Kataoka, Marcus Plunkett, Baard Bjoernevik Skogen
4.21 pm: Kazuki Higa, Jiho Yang, Nevill Ruiter (a)

It is underway!