Jonathan Jurejko
BBC Sport golf reporter at Royal Birkdale

When you hit the sixth you can almost sniff the sea. You can certainly see it. But even the binoculars aren’t powerful to pick out the Isle of Man.

This feels like the linkiest part of the course. The dunes are towering, the bunkers cavernous.

Saying that, I’ve already seen two photographers tumble over sandy mounds. Thankfully both human and equipment emerged unscathed.

Keep those eyes down!

Tommy Fleetwood is off target from the sixth tee and into some crispy brown fescue, but the recovery is immaculate, landing it softy on the green and leaving just 12 feet or so for birdie.

Jordan Spieth is in even bigger trouble though, perched on top of a bunker hitting his second, he thins it into the water hazard and has to take a penalty drop.

We've seen this movie before.

Oliver Wilson
Former Ryder Cup player on BBC Radio 5 Live

On Tommy Fleetwood's game suiting Royal Birkdale...

This course is very much approach heavy. You need to have good distance control and iron play and that is his strength. Driving distance is irrelevant. If you're purely looking at statistics, it is a great opportunity for him to win.

Graeme Storm
Two-time European Tour winner on BBC Radio 5 Live

Image source, PA Media

Magnificent. Superb. Great ball control, once again from Scottie Scheffler. He rolled it in, dead weight into the middle of the cup.

Image source, Getty Images

Scottie Scheffler is a man that very much sticks to his plan and doesn't even really have a go at the sixth flag, with his second.

Instead he finds the landing area he was aiming for and looks fairly satisfied even if he'll be putting from 40 feet. The world number one drops it in mind and acknowledges the fans who cheer as his ball finds the bottom of the cup.

He now sits solo at the top of the leaderboard. Who was the last player to win The Open in consecutive years? Oh yeah Padraig Harrington, who is heading out later.

Tyrrell Hatton looks to be in bother after drifting right but plays a superb wedge from the longer grass to then tap in for par from four feet.

Bryson DeChambeau also snaffles a par on the hardest hole on the course.

England's Dan Brown is not going away.

He birdied the 14th to rejoin the leaders at -3 but then missed for par from four-and-a-half feet at the 15th.

That'll keep him one off clubhouse leader Thomas Detry.

Catriona Matthew
Captain of Team Europe at the 2019 & 2021 Solheim Cup on BBC Radio 5 Live

Image source, Getty Images

Tommy Fleetwood is looking very good. He is looking very smart.

That is great for Tommy. He was aggressive off the tee, he went with the driver, and it paid off.

Jonathan Jurejko
BBC Sport golf reporter at Royal Birkdale

"Oooh he’s gone for it!"

The fans around the fifth green are enjoying seeing whether the players back on the tee pull the big dog out of the bag or play it safe.

So far today it seems more players are laying up and going in with a short iron.

Fleetwood has been rewarded for taking the risk. And the crowd absolutely love it!

Tommy Fleetwood took the attacking route with the driver off the fifth tee, but found the greenside bunker. That's no problem, for him though as he splashes it out to inside 10 feet and then rolls in his first birdie of the day to a huge home crowd roar.

The ball just does half a circle around the top of the cup before dropping but it's almost like the Birkdale faithful collectively blew that ball into the hole. There's the roar but then also a few shouts of encouragement as Fleetwood strides off the green.

Imagine the noise if he does get into contention on Sunday!

Jon Rahm went for a lay-up on the same hole and it looked to be the right decision as he managed to put just enough swazz on his approach to rip it back a few feet and set up a short birdie putt. But Rahm misses! He'll be fuming at that.

Jonathan Jurejko
BBC Sport golf reporter at Royal Birkdale

The fifth has been completely remodelled since the Open was last held here, turning what was once a blind tee shot into a tantalising driveable par-four.

Rahm and Spieth aren’t tempted. Fleetwood is.

The Englishman feels this is the time to put his foot in the accelerator. If he splashes out as well as he did on the last then it could work out very well indeed…

Image source, Getty Images

More trouble for Justin Rose at the seventh as he dumps his tee shot into the greenside bunker.

He's out safely enough but misses his par putt and suddenly is at +2.

Andrew Murray
Former European Tour winner on BBC Radio 5 Live

For me, this is one of the best spectating golf courses on the Open rota.

Huge sandhills around a number of holes. For me, it is the most atmospheric.

The golf crowds around here are really knowledgeable, and it is a really fair golf course. It is just magnificent.

You'll hear a lot about strategy and course management this week - what clubs to take off the tee, where to miss the green, how to avoid the bunkers. But what does it all mean?

Ken Brown explains all...

Yesterday, chief executive Mark Darbon said the R&A is "getting pretty close" to staging an Open Championship outside of the United Kingdom for the first time, at Portmarnock Golf Club in Dublin.

Read more about it over here - and then tell us what you make of the potential plans using the Get Involved button.

Image source, Reuters

Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau and Tyrrell Hatton all have a go at the fifth green with varying levels of success.

BDC lands on the dance floor and then runs through the back of the green. He chips back into six feet but then prods his birdie putt left.

Scottie Scheffler finds himself the wrong side of a couple of bunkers but simply chips his ball over them to four feet before dispatching his putt for a three.

England's Tyrrell Hatton plays an even better shot from the swale to the left of the green running an eagle attempt up to six inches before tapping in for birdie.

Oliver Wilson
Former Ryder Cup player on BBC Radio 5 Live

It is always incredibly challenging - it is Royal Birkdale. These are the conditions you want.

The course is in perfect condition and the rough is enough to cause a problem. The players are struggling with control out of it.

Image source, Getty Images

Of the 156 players competing at this week's Open Championship, David Howard's journey to Royal Birkdale is among the most remarkable and inspiring.

For a long time, teeing it up at a major alongside the world's best golfers was nothing more than a pipe dream for the trained mechanic from county Cork.

When Howard was seven years old, he was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, the genetic condition that causes sticky mucus to build up in the lungs and digestive system.

By his own estimate, Howard was in hospital "a few times a year" with infections.

"I remember when I first got access to a phone when I was 12, 13, I googled 'cystic fibrosis life expectancy' and it was saying mid-20s," the 27-year-old told BBC Sport NI's Stephen Watson.

"When I was 12 or 13 I didn't even think I'd live to this age - to be here now, healthy as ever and playing with all these top players, it doesn't even make sense to me."

Read more

The par-four fifth hole is only 309 yards today so the green is well within reach, even for a fairway wood for some players, but Jon Rahm and Jordan Spieth both take out the chicken sticks and play for position with irons.

It's only mid irons as well there are bunkers around the 220-yard mark so we're talking mid irons at most. And Spieth goes and misses the fairway!

Tommy Fleetwood is not backing away from this though and hits an easy driver, which actually is just as short and leaves him with a tricky chip up over the bunker and large mound - but still chance of setting up a birdie.

Iain Carter
BBC golf correspondent on BBC Radio 5 Live at Royal Birkdale

Image source, Getty Images

This is the point-to-prove group. Scottie Scheffler missed the cut last week [at the Scottish Open] and he has only won once this year.

Bryson DeChambeau has a point to prove as he has also missed all the major cuts this year.

Tyrrell Hatton is the third man in this group, and he is someone who has underachieved at major championship level.

Canada's Nick Taylor is absolutely flying. The 38-year-old has never even made a cut at The Open but has started like a man on a mission with three consecutive birdies.

Fantastic approaches did the business for him on the opening two holes and he now drains a 20-foot putt on the third.