Matthew Hobbs
BBC Sport journalist at Royal Birkdale

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England's Matt Fitzpatrick is enjoying a strong season with three wins already on the PGA Tour along with second place at the Players.

He finished in a tie for fourth at Portrush last year but vast improvements in his approach play may mean he is aiming even higher at Birkdale.

Two years ago, the 31-year-old ranked outside the top 100 on the PGA Tour for strokes gained in approach play. Last year he was still outside the top 70.

This year so far? He's first.

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With 66 set as the early target, a fast start will be key for Rory McIlroy.

His first rounds in this year's majors have been a mixed bag. He opened with a 67 en route to retaining the Masters, but a 74 put him on the back foot at the US PGA Championship.

A 69 was a solid opening at the US Open before he faltered over the weekend.

He'll certainly be keen to avoid a repeat of his last visit to Birkdale when he was five over through his first six holes.

McIlroy is out with 2024 champion Xander Schauffele and England's Matt Fitzpatrick, who's been as good as anyone this year.

Three wins and three other top-threes for Fitzy. His best major finish this year was tied 14th at the US PGA, but his form suggests he is a serious contender here this week.

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

That was a shocker. That is a bogey six for Scottie Scheffler.

Scottie Scheffler is indeed in trouble and by the looks it has a horrible lie that means his ball pops out rapidly and disappears straight across the fairway into the rough.

But he conjures up a stunning chip into four feet that could well save his par, but DOESN'T. That is a shocker.

How has he missed that?

After going left with his second Tyrrell Hatton does save par although rues the fact that his birdie putt just doesn't have enough juice on it.

Bryson DeChambeau has no such worries, with a wonderful putt up the slope from the right front edge that snakes into a foot, to give him an unmissable birdie putt.

Oliver Wilson
Former Ryder Cup player on BBC Radio 5 Live

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Viktor Hovland will be frustrated by only finishing level, but it was a solid round of golf. He looked like he was in tune with the course. The closing stretch with these left-to-right winds are not easy by any means.

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A disappointing day for Justin Rose comes to an end with a par four on the 18th, meaning he'll sign for a five-over 75 shortly.

Rose was one under par after three holes but his opening round went downhill from there and his main objective tomorrow will be making sure he's around for the weekend.

Norway's Viktor Hovland bogeyed the last for a level-par round of 70, as did American Russell Henley.

Jonathan Jurejko
BBC Sport golf reporter at Royal Birkdale

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Tommy Fleetwood had an iron in his hand while he waited on the 17th tee for the group ahead.

In the end he pulls a wood out of the bag - probably the mini driver which he loves.

That’s a versatile club which is essentially between a driver and a fairway wood which gives Fleetwood more control off the tee.

Threading the ball through the two imposing sand dunes on either side and coming short of the bunkers is the plan.

For my money, one of the very best tee-shots on this grand old course.

Right then, pars all round for this group and Tommy Fleetwood now has two holes to go, two pars for a 70 but he'd love to finish the day under par.

That's a shame for Ryan Gerard, who follows a birdie four at 14 with an untidy bogey at the par-three 15th.

His second dropped shot on the back nine drops him out of a share for the lead.

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

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It was a wild second shot. Scottie Scheffler wasn't far from hitting it out of bounds. He also thought someone had stood on it.

That's not bad at all from Bryson DeChambeau, who runs his second up towards the front edge of the par-five 17th.

Scottie Scheffler shouts, "no, no, no" as he fires his approach way right towards the TV cameras perched on top of a bank. Now where has that ended up?

It looks like trouble, which is something Tyrrell Hatton has also found but over on the left.

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In this day and age there are all sorts of golf training aids, but the newly crowned US Open champion Wyndham Clark went old school earlier this week when he pulled out a clothes hanger to help him work on his swing.

It may have looked a tad unorthodox but when he spoke to the media he explained exactly what he'd been up to on the range.

"The coat hanger is for wrist angle, trying to get a little more inflection in my left wrist so I can square the face more, that's just what it is," Clark said.

"It's like an old training aid. People have been doing it forever. I didn't come up with it, but for myself, I know that helps wrist angles. I decided to do it. My swing coach and I have been working on it.

"I get my wrist cupped and I've been trying to get it flatter. I feel like that's the best way to do that."

Clark plays alongside fellow American Cameron Young and Sweden's Ludvig Aberg in the first two rounds.

Piers Ward
Aaron Rai's coach on BBC Radio 5 Live

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Aaron Rai's coach Piers Ward has been speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live:

"I think this week Aaron Rai had a slightly longer week after missing the cut at the Scottish Open, which is good because a few things had to be worked out technically.

"We sorted that out within a day. On a course like this, you need the prep time.

"You need to feel out the golf course, and you need to feel it out for three consecutive days. The course is getting yellower and browner.

"These guys need to understand the run-off from the tee. When they're in the rough, can they release it into the green or is it going to stop?"

On Rai's reception: "When he is playing on home soil, the fans have taken to him.

"When you play in this event which he has watched on TV forever, and suddenly you can do well. That would be very special for him.

"With Shane Lowry he has a good relationship. Aaron has played well when he has played with Brooks Koepka.

"Playing with two major champions is cool for him."

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Sports betting is becoming a problem among golf fans and contributing to personal abuse hurled at players, says Matt Fitzpatrick.

The 2022 US Open champion was part of the European side that was barracked by hostile US fans at Bethpage Black last September in the Ryder Cup.

England's Fitzpatrick was also subjected to pantomime boos from the partisan fans when he lost out to Cameron Young at the PGA Tour's flagship Players Championship in March.

"I would say every golfer that's played a professional tournament has had a message of abuse from someone that is related to gambling," said Fitzpatrick.

"You go and type in a player's name who maybe isn't playing well, maybe someone who's favoured to play well, you type the name into Twitter [now known as X] and you'll just see their name followed by abuse after abuse after abuse.

"For me, it's definitely becoming a problem and the issue is, particularly in golf, it would be very easy to influence a bet, whether it's shouting on someone's backswing, shouting on a putting stroke.

"It's really easy. Obviously that is really hard to monitor, but it is definitely an issue."

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Maverick McNealy is starting to feature near the top of major leaderboards.

He tucked away top-20 finishes at the Masters and US PGA this year and has made a fine start to his fourth Open Championship.

The 30-year-old Californian birdies 13 and 14 to move three under. McNealy missed the cut here on his Open debut in 2017, but he looks in better form this time.

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Buchanan is under way at Royal Birkdale. The 21-year-old is one under through two holes.

Tommy Fleetwood continues to punch those wedge and short iron shots with a curtailed follow through - obviously looking to limit the height and drive it through the wind.

But they're not quite coming off in general as a couple have popped up and fallen short, a couple of been blown off to the right and this one on 16 drops short and left - still on the green but a long way away.

One of his closest approaches all day has been a full swing of the club on the 15th from 200 yards away...

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The 2009 winner Stewart Cink had a brilliant verdict on the conditions today:

"This is not the Birkdale I've ever seen before. Lush would be the opposite of the way to describe this place right now, and obviously very calm. The wind was kind of not there and then when it picked up it shifted about 90 degrees or more today.

"It's a different Birkdale. It's way different!"

On his experience of courses in the UK: "That's kind of what you expect over here. The golf courses are how the weather goes. They're either fast, firm, dry, fiery and dusty. Or they're never really soft but they can be lush and green and a little slower.

"This week we've got it very dry, and it's a lot of fun."

Ryan Gerard's momentum was halted by that bogey on 11 but he's just picked up his fifth birdie of the day at par-five 15th and moves alongside Sungjae Im and Dan Brown at the summit.

On the par-five 17th, Russell Henley, Justin Rose and Viktor Hovland all have chances from 10 feet or closer for birdies - and all are made.

Hovland and Henley are back under par with just the tricky 18th left to play.