Former Open champion Darren Clarke has relived former glories in front of an adoring home crowd after taking an early lead in the 148th championship.
The 2011 winner, given the honour of hitting the opening tee shot at 6.35am at Royal Portrush, holed a 15-foot birdie putt at the first.
Unfortunately, the Northern Irishman could not take advantage of the par-five second after finding a bunker off the tee, but remained top of the fledgling leader board on one under.
He was joined by playing partner James Sugrue, the Amateur Championship winner from Ireland, who left his eagle attempt at the second just short.
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With early-morning sunshine piercing the cloudy skies, Clarke - who owns a house over looking the course - was welcomed on the first tee to huge cheers.
The 50-year-old has missed the cut in three of the last four years, but after sharing a few words with victorious Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn, he got off to a confidence-boosting start by finding the fairway in breezy conditions.
Having managed to escape from the sand and get away with a par, the fairytale continued for Clarke at the short par-three third.
He hit a brilliant approach to three feet at the short third for his second birdie of the day and the outright lead again.
A lucky bounce presented a 25ft uphill birdie putt at the fourth, but the Northern Irishman's attempt was offline.
The 148th Open at Royal Portrush has set a new attendance record for a championship staged outside St Andrews, with 237,750 people attending.
Another local favourite Rory McIlroy will be hoping to grab his second Claret Jug after teeing off at 10:09am.
Tiger Woods will kick-off his campaign at 3.10pm.
https://www.itv.com/news/utv/2019-07-18/the-148th-open-underway-at-royal-portrush/
2019-07-18 06:45:00Z
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