The final major of the golfing year takes place this week as the Open Championship takes place at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland – with Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood both teeing off

Royal Portrush showed its teeth on Thursday as the 2025 Open Championship field got the full links golf experience. The weather shifted and changed throughout the first round to create challenging scoring conditions, and some handled it better than the rest as the first 18 holes concluded in Northern Ireland.

As Fleetwood gets ready to compete in another major title close to home, his relationship with wife Clare is back in the headlines. The two share a 22-year age gap, though neither seem to give it too much thought other than when the later claimed Fleetwood was a bit too young for her when they first met.

Rory McIlroy is grouped with Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Thomas for first two rounds at Royal Portrush. McIlroy has late-early draw as he hopes for victory on home-soil and another Open win. The world No 2 missed the cut when the tournament was last held at this venue in 2019 but golf fans can watch him tee off at 3.10pm this afternoon, July 17.

SportsLine golf expert Brady Kannon just locked in his PGA Tour best bets for the 2025 British Open at Royal Portrush Golf Club

Apparently, someone must have been trying operate with some haste and neglected to rake a bunker at the par-4 fifth hole. Fleetwood’s drive found that unraked fairway bunker, and he was forced to play his bole in a footprint.

Rory McIlroy looked like delivering the show the thousands who had flocked to Royal Portrush to cheer their returning hero expected, only for his bid for the first-round Open lead to collapse in the space of four holes on the back nine.

Tommy Fleetwood was the first victim of the decision to make caddies responsible for raking the sand of the bunkers at the Open Championship.

Fleetwood may be the best golfer in the world never to have won a major, let alone a single PGA Tour tournament.

Tommy Fleetwood, a seasoned golfer with nearly a decade of top-level experience, seeks his first major win at Royal Portrush, where he previously finished second in the 2019 Open. Despite earning over $30 million on the PGA Tour and consistently ranking among the world's best,

The Open Championship begins Thursday morning at Royal Portrush with the best golfers in the world vying for the final major of the season in Northern Ireland. This 2025 Open will result in some early mornings -- or late nights, depending on your vantage point -- for fans stateside if they hope to keep up with their favorite players.

It was the moment the majority of Royal Portrush fans on opening day of the Open Championship had been waiting to see – as Masters champion and Northern Ireland hero Rory McIlroy stepped up to end the anticipation and tee off around 3pm on Thursday.