Spieth, Koepka, Kuchar lead American charge after Round 1 of The Open
The American flag is dominating the top of the leaderboard after 18 holes of The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.
Jordan Spieth, Brooks Kopeka, and Matt Kuchar find themselves leading the pack at 5-under-par, after the American trio fired matching 65s during the opening round of the season's third major.
Spieth and Koepka did their damage early, taking advantage of benign scoring conditions to post the low number. Spieth went out in 3-under 31, before adding two more birdies on the closing stretch to finish the day bogey-free, while Koepka continued his hot play from the US Open, punctuating his round with an eagle from the bunker on the par-5 17th.
Kuchar, who was part of the afternoon wave, absolutely torched the front nine with a sparkling 29, before parring all nine holes on the way home.
The trio sits one stroke up on Paul Casey and Charl Schwartzel, with six players two back at 3-under.
| Place | Player | To par | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | Jordan Spieth | -5 | 65 |
| T1 | Brooks Koepka | -5 | 65 |
| T1 | Matt Kuchar | -5 | 65 |
| T4 | Charl Schwartzel | -4 | 66 |
| T4 | Paul Casey | -4 | 66 |
| T6 | Ian Poulter | -3 | 67 |
| T6 | Justin Thomas | -3 | 67 |
| T6 | Richard Bland | -3 | 67 |
| T6 | Austin Connelly | -3 | 67 |
| T6 | Charley Hoffman | -3 | 67 |
| T6 | Rafa Cabrera-Bello | -3 | 67 |