Home favourite Tommy Fleetwood joined South African amateur Christo Lamprecht at the top of the leaderboard after hitting a five-under-par 66 on the opening day of the Open Championship at Hoylake.
Lamprecht shone on his debut at the majors after earning his place by winning the Amateur Championship last month.
The powerful 22-year-old, who stands 6 feet 8 inches (2.03 metres) tall, used his long levers to great effect around the Royal Liverpool course on Thursday.
“I earned my spot to be here. I think the way I played today I earned to be on the top of the leaderboard, as of now,” said Lamprecht.
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Fleetwood, who hails from Southport, just 48 kilometres from the course, gave his chances of a first major title win a huge boost with a run of three consecutive birdies between the 14th and 16th.
“Such a special opportunity to play so close to home,” said the world number 21. “To have that support and play an Open, (I’m) glad I gave them some good golf to watch.”
Despite the glorious blue skies on the Wirral coastline, many of the stellar names in the field struggled at the 151st Open.
Back at the scene of his only Open triumph in 2014, Rory McIlroy was one over through the front nine.
The world No 2 has been stuck on four major titles for the past nine years.
