It’s the final Major of the year as the world’s best golfers bid for the Open Championship at Royal Troon.
You can follow all the action right here over the next few days.
Irish in action:
Shane Lowry -7 (7)
Pádraig Harrington +1 (10)
Tom McKibbin +2 (11.47am)
Liam Nolan (A) +8 (3)
Darren Clarke +6 (12)
Rory McIlroy +7 (3.10pm)
Lowry’s ball barely drifts from its original course as he nails another tee-shot, spinning his five wood right down into the heart of the ninth fairway. So far so good, he’s been brilliant from tee-to-green and the putter hasn’t been far off either.
Lowry sinks the twelve footer on the postage stamp, rewarding that brilliant tee-shot and going straight back to the top of the leaderboard.
He threads the needle catching the left-hand-side of the green on the notoriously difficult eight but it spins across the green just as he needed it, giving him a fifteen footer for birdie.
That was a brilliant effort from 35 foot but it stays out, and he moves on with the par.
He’s hit better approach shots, over-cooking that one from a good position.
He’s been flawless off the tee so far and that continues as, this time, he takes a full swing and sends it high into the Troon Sky. It takes a few big hops down the fairway and it’s gone a long way. Position A1 again.
He’s given himself no shortage of opportunities but another one slips by on six, as he leaves the birdie putt short.
Despite having found the thick stuff with his second, he’s given himself another big birdie opportunity.
He cuts through the gorse with his approach which lands short of the green but kicks on, giving him a twelve footer for birdie.
Scottie Scheffler gives his birdie on four straight back with a bogey on five.
It’s always entertaining watching Jordan. He’s +1 after five.
His playing partner Matt Fitzpatrick gave him a bit of a warning sending his drive wide and right but Lowry finds the fairway with another solid drive.
He seems to be playing a lot of these low and half-shots minus the full follow through and they’re working perfect so far, seemingly suited to the links course.
His delicate hands gave him a six footer for par, but he pulls it dropping a shot for the first time this week.
Ominously, Scottie Scheffler has picked up an early birdie moving to -2 after four.
USPGA champ Xander Schauffele drops back to level par after a bogey on six.
He over-cuts the tee-shot and it’s not going to be simple from here with a thirty yarder coming up from one of those nasty sand-traps.
That was some approach shot. It looked like his 82 yard wedge was going to settle ten foot above the pin but then the backspin kicked in, and it flies back to tap-in distance. That to take sole-ownership of the lead and, 22 holes into his championship, he remains bogey-free.
He hasn’t been shy of taking the driver out of the bag this week and while it tailed slightly left this time, he’s still in a promising position just off the fairway in the semi-rough.
Strangely, the putter lets him down as he pushes the birdie chance well right, failing to threaten the hole. Takes the par and moves on.
Behind him, there is very little movement on the leaderboard with the scoring remaining steady. Canada’s Corey Conners is -2 for his round and -2 for the tournament with Patrick Cantlay also -2 after four today, bringing him to level par in total.