One of the new holes added for 2019 and it's a stunner, with towering dunes down the right protecting players from the wind, but not their golf balls if they launch it high so beware.

There's an eagle chance here depending on the weather, but there's a tough bunker or two to cause trouble.

Two cracking shots by Tom McKibbin down the long seventh. It's playing 608 yards and he's managed to reach the green and leave himself around 18 feet for an eagle three...

Nicolai Hojgaard is thrashing out of the rough down the right. He won't find the green in two but a chip and a putt would do nicely from 20 yards.

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I asked a moment ago if Lee Westwood could turn back time.

Well, he's started reasonably enough, knocking his opening shot 300 yards down the fairway and in prime position to take on the pin with his second.

BBC Radio 5 Live

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BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast's James Gregg has been singing the praises of Darren Clarke:

"A Ryder Cup warrior, Open Champion in 2011 and one of golf’s great natural ball strikers. One of those characters that transcends the sport. Everyone seems to know and like him.

“They’ll treat him a little bit like an old friend.

“He won’t have any ambition of winning the Claret Jug here this week but he’ll really try and enjoy it.

“There is a calm about him, a seasoned stillness, forged from years of walking the fairways under pressure."

There are 16 past champions in the field for The Open this year, including each of the past 12.

Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy head the list for the home crowds, alongside 2011 winner and Northern Ireland native Darren Clarke.

Plenty of returning Americans are in the mix too though, including Jordan Spieth who won in remarkable fashion in 2017.

What price 2013 champion Phil Mickelson (currently tied for the lead) walking off the 18th green on Sunday with his seventh major title at the age of 55?

A key rule of championship golf - don't compound your errors.

Padraig Harrington drives his tee shot on the par-five seventh - one of the two new holes constructed for the last time Portrush staged The Open in 2019 - into a fairway bunker. Thankfully for him, it's not Nellie's - the cavernous one down the right which was replicated from what was the old 17th.

But he can't get his ball back on to the fairway. Perhaps being a touch greedy there in trying to smash one over the rough and only succeeding in landing his ball in it. Work to do.

Six years ago, long before LIV Golf was even a whisper in the professional golf conversation, a 45-year-old Lee Westwood finished fourth at the Open Championship at Portrush.

It was an eighth top-five for the English golfer, his best since 2013 at Muirfield and another close shave for a man who used to be a staple towards the top of major leaderboards.

He has only played in two Opens since, 2021 at Royal St George and 2022 at St Andrew's and his switch to the Saudi-backed LIV tour that same year moved him out of public consciousness.

Results on LIV are not recognised by the Official World Golf Ranking system either, hence a plummet to 4,689th for a man who was once ranked the best in the world.

Westwood booked his place by winning his qualifying event at Dundonald links two weeks ago and will tee it up for the 28th time at the Open Championship.

Phil Mickelson doing trademark Phil Mickelson things on the third hole in a passage of golf that just about sums up his entire career.

He actually left his second shot in the bunker, so you know it was a tough lie if a magician like him couldn't escape from the trap.

But he only goes and holes out with his second attempt for a par that keeps him at one under and in a share of the lead. Has there ever been anyone better with a wedge then Mickelson?

The par-three sixth plays away from the coast. It really is a beautiful tee to stand on. The beach behind and below you, Dunluce Castle away in the distance on the cliffs.

Pars all round for the trio who were up and out first this morning. And suddenly they are a third of their way round. It's taken them about 90 minutes too, so decent pace.

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Tidy opening par for Darren Clarke who takes the acclaim of the crowds around the first tee.

He's seen it all before.

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09:58: Xander Schauffele, JJ Spaun and Jon Rahm

10:09: Shane Lowry, Collin Morikawa and Scottie Scheffler

14:37: Russell Henley, Tyrrell Hatton and Min Woo Lee

14:48: Robert MacIntyre, Justin Rose and Bryson DeChambeau

15:10: Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Thomas

You can get a full list of Thursday and Friday's tee times here.

This brilliant part of Portrush sees the players take on the driveable par-four fifth then play this lovely par three with the tee box perched on the cliff edge, the wind whipping off the sea and waves crashing down below them.

Just epic.

Our first trio are through the fifth will little drama.

Northern Ireland's Tom McKibbin has the biggest smile though after holing an eight-footer to pick up his first birdie of the day.

Padraig Harrington and Nicolai Hojgaard safely in for par.

Watch our 'what's in the bag' video with Darren Clarke as he talks us through the weapons he'll be wielding at Portrush.

Jonathan Bradley
BBC Sport NI senior journalist at Royal Portrush

Anyone who was using yesterday's practice conditions to gauge their tee shot on the fifth will need a rethink.

Today's wind is going to make it a very different beast when the players reach the furthest point of the course. I nearly lost my cap to the stiff breeze there.

A 33rd Open appearance is under way for Darren Clarke and there are huge cheers around the first as he steps up to the tee.

Driver in hand, that's a perfect tee shot for the 2011 champ, boshed down the fairway. Our guide to the holes at Portrush is off to an ideal start.

Padraig Harrington a little wild with his drive down the fifth, knocking it left and into some gnarly stuff. But the Irishman shows great touch - and course knowledge - flicking his shot out and landing it short of the green and allowing the ball to run on. He knows that barely a yard over the back of this green is out of bounds.

The best bit of the course in my view as players come into close contact with the cliff edge and the sea - with the driveable par-four fifth hole most people's favourite hole at Royal Portrush.

Darren Clarke gives us the lowdown.

Peter Scrivener
BBC Sport senior journalist at Royal Portrush

It's relatively benign out there at the moment. A slight breeze but nothing that should trouble the best in the world. There's a bit of weather coming in later though - double raindrops on the map, around 15:00 BST... about the same time as Rory McIlroy tees off, coincidentally. There's also a weather warning for a thunderstorm.

So if you're coming down to the course, don't be fooled by the current dryness. You will get wet.

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Phil Mickelson made his par on the first and he's one of five players who are currently at level par or better.

Only two players currently under par and they're both from Denmark! With Nicolai Hojgaard and Jacob Skov Olesen both one under and sharing the lead at The Open.