The Open wrap-up: Takeaways from Round 1 at Royal Liverpool

The final major of the season is underway at Royal Liverpool. Keep it here for running takeaways as the morning and afternoon waves complete Round 1 play at The Open.

Fleetwood flashes major form to locals

There hasn't been an Englishman win the Open Championship since Nick Faldo in 1992, but Tommy Fleetwood is hoping to ride the home support to end that streak this week. While Royal Birkdale is closer to Fleetwood's hometown of Southport, Royal Liverpool is only a 30-mile trip down the coast for the 32-year-old. That support was certainly felt on Thursday, as Fleetwood poured in six birdies - including three in a row on holes 14, 15, and 16 - to match the early lead set by amateur Christo Lamprecht.

Fleetwood has seven wins worldwide in his career but has never claimed the top prize in 122 events on the PGA TOUR. Despite that winless run, Fleetwood has consistently been a contender at major championships over the past few years. His last major round prior to Thursday was a sizzling Sunday 63 at the U.S. Open in Los Angeles. Add his 66 at Royal Liverpool to the mix, and he sits 12-under over his last two major rounds.

Christooooooooo!

The biggest surprise - literally - on the leaderboard on Thursday morning came in the form of the massive 6-foot-8 amateur Lamprecht. The Georgia Tech star qualified for the event with his victory last month in the Amateur Championship at nearby Hillside, and he carried that form over to Royal Liverpool in the opening round. His closing birdie at the 18th saw him finish with a sizzling 5-under 66 to grab the early lead.

Lamprecht is a two-time All-American with the Yellow Jackets and uses his lanky frame to generate absurd ball speed, almost hitting 200 mph. The South African used that power to make seven birdies in calm conditions in England in the first round.

Lamprecht is tied with Fleetwood and currently sitting two shots clear of Stewart Cink, a former Georgia Tech star in his own right. Cink is making his 23rd start in the event, with his debut coming in 1998 - three years before Lamprecht was born.

JT's Ryder Cup chances teetering

Due to his sparkling record in the event, it would seem foolish to even suggest that Justin Thomas wouldn't be on the U.S. Ryder Cup team this September in Italy. However, the 2022 PGA champion is teetering dangerously close to missing out due to his continued struggles this season.

Thursday was the latest example of Thomas' deteriorating form, as the 30-year-old ballooned to an 11-over 82 at Royal Liverpool to sit tied for 154th. Thomas missed the cut at the U.S. Open in June, only beating three players total through 36 holes in the 156-man field. He's currently ahead of just one player in the 156-man field at The Open.

Should he miss the cut on Friday, Thomas would finish the major season with three missed cuts and a 65th-place showing at the PGA Championship. His team-play record is an outrageous 16-5-3, but it's getting harder and harder to see him making the trip to Italy with the rest of the U.S. team.

Strong finish keeps Rory in the hunt

Things looked fairly bleak for Rory McIlroy late Thursday as he was 2-over on his round and faced a tricky 41-foot putt on the difficult 14th hole. He hadn't made a birdie since the second hole, with three bogeys pushing him seven shots off the lead.

However, the four-time major winner flashed some of the ability that's made him one of the world's best, pouring in that putt for an unlikely birdie. He followed that up with another birdie on the par-5 15th to get back to even on his round. That would be how he finished, thanks to a brilliant up-and-down from the bunker on 18 to save par.

McIlroy once again showed his ability to stay in a tournament early despite not having his best stuff. That was a serious problem for him in past majors, but it's something he's fixed in recent years. McIlroy was 27-over in the opening rounds of majors from 2017 through the 2022 Masters, according to Justin Ray of Twenty First Group. In the six majors since, he's 18-under over the first 19 holes.

When he claimed the title at Royal Liverpool in 2014, he hit 78% of his fairways over 72 holes, constantly putting himself in ideal position and avoiding the thick rough and dangerous pot bunkers. While he battled a two-way miss with the driver early, he cleaned things up for the most part and ended up finding 9-of-14 fairways.

The most alarming part of his day was certainly his approach play, with two of his three bogeys coming from the center of the fairway with less than 150 yards to go. If he can clean that up for Friday morning, expect him to make a run up the leaderboard.

Open Championship Spieth shows up

There's been no better player at The Open since 2015 than Jordan Spieth, with the 2017 champion leading the field in a number of statistical categories.

Despite Spieth's form falling off in recent years, he's somehow been able to turn it on at The Open each year with a runner-up and a T-8 in his last two starts. That held true on Thursday, as Spieth shook off a missed cut in Scotland last week to fire a 2-under 69 and sit tied for sixth.

Spieth actually missed four of his last six cuts entering The Open, but he immediately got to work with birdies on Nos. 5 and 7. A disappointing bogey on the closing 18th will leave a sour taste in his mouth, but the 29-year-old is firmly in the mix after 18 holes for his fourth career major.

Rickie finds disaster on 18

There was plenty of chatter this week surrounding the internal out of bounds on the 18th hole at Royal Liverpool, and after Thursday, it's probably a safe bet that Rickie Fowler isn't a fan. After bogeying his opening hole, Fowler scattered three birdies over his next 16 to come to the 18th hole sitting 2-under and right in the thick of things for the championship.

Fowler pounded a drive down the fairway to give himself just under 290 yards to the green. Unfortunately, the 34-year-old did the one thing he couldn't and pushed his shot right into the out-of-bounds area. Forced to reload in the fairway, Fowler's fourth shot looked eerily similar to the previous one, as he found the trouble once again for another penalty.

He finally found the green with his sixth shot before two-putting for a triple-bogey 8 on the hole. That pushed him all the way to a tie for 50th with plenty of work to do on Friday.