Collin Morikawa Tied for 41st After Opening Round at The Open

All three Cal golfers had to battle through rain and wind at Scotland's Royal Troon golf course

Collin Morikawa / John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

Wind and rain on Scotland’s west coast made life challenging for everyone on the first day of The Open Championship, and that certainly included the three former Cal golfers competing at Royal Troon.

World No. 6 Collin Morikawa sits in a tie for 41st place after shooting a 2-over 73 on Thursday, Byeong Hun An is tied for 83rd at 75 and Max Home’s recent woes continued when he posted a 5-over 76, leaving him in a tie for 96th.

The three Golden Bears combined for just five birdies but 10 bogeys, and each had a double-bogey on his scorecard. 

England’s Daniel Brown, 29 and winless in two PGA tour events, birdies Nos. 16 and 18 to complete a bogey-free round of 65 that gave him the first-round lead. Brown, who missed the cut in seven straight tournaments early this year, is playing in his first major.

Ireland’s Shane Lowery, 37, also played a bogey-free round and is one stroke back after a 66. Justin Thomas is alone in third at minus-3 and Xander Schauffele, ranked No. 3 in the world, is in good shape at minus-2 and tied for fourth place.

Scottie Scheffler, the world’s top-ranked player and winner of the Masters this year, shot a 1-under 70 and is tied for 11th place.

But many of the world’s top golfers struggled on the first day of the event boasting a total purse of $17 million.

U.S. Open winner Bryson DeChambeau came in at 5-over 76 that would have been worse were it not for an eagle-3 on the 16th hole. 

World No. 2 Rory McIlroy, runnerup to DeChambeau at the U.S. Open, shot 7-over 78 that included two double-bogeys. 

Tiger Woods had two double-bogeys and six bogeys on the way to an 8-over 79 that places him in a tie for 138th place among 156 golfers in the field.

Tenth-ranked Jon Rahm and No. 4 Ludvig Aberg did a little better, carding 73 and 74, respectively, but neither is in the top 40 entering play Friday.

Morikawa, who won the British in 2021, began this week with nine consecutive top-20 finishes, six of them in the top-10. But he bogeyed the first hole Thursday and had a double-bogey-5 on the par-3 eighth hole that is known as Postage Stamp. 

He had a birdie on No. 14 but otherwise played par golf the rest of the way to finish in a 29-way tie at plus-2 along with the likes of Rahm, Patrick Cantlay and Phil Mickelson.

An. the veteran South Korean who played one season at Cal, is tied at 4-over with Viktor Hovland and Hideki Matsuyama.

Homa, whose 10th place finish last year was his best at the British, has slipped from No. 7 in the world to No. 15 since the start of the year. He was in a hole from the start Thursday after a double-bogey on No. 1.