PORTRUSH, NORTHERN IRELAND | Xander Schauffele, the 2024 PGA and Open champion, had a tee-off time before 10 o’clock on the morning in the first round of the 153rd Open Championship and in J.J. Spaun, the U.S. Open champion, and Jon Rahm, who won the 2021 U.S. Open and the 2023 Masters, he had had playing partners of almost equal stature. A windless morning beneath glowering skies though there was a hint of rain. And a hustling, bustling sense of excitement generated by spectators at the second Open Championship to be staged on the island of Ireland in the past six years. What more could Schauffele have wanted to begin his defence of his Open Championship?
Beside Schauffele’s name on the draw sheet, in the position normally used to display the initial of the colour of their player’s caddie bibs – R for red, B for blue etc. – were the initials CG. Was that a new colour? Cement green perhaps? An as-yet-unknown acronym? No. Simply the distinctive and impressive words that applied to him at this Championship and only to him – Champion Golfer. “That’s nice,” Schauffele said when it was pointed out to him. “Another nice touch.’
Growing up, Schauffele often heard his father say to him: “A steady drip caves the stone,” meaning there was real merit in what to some might be slow progress. Work, work, work. Don’t expect instantaneous results. The result will be worth the effort. Grind, grind, grind. Drip, drip, drip.
Schauffele, Rahm and Spaun were level par after their first three holes with nine pars to their names, almost inseparable at the turn when Rahm, out in 34, held a one-stroke lead over his playing partners. Rahm’s round was a 70, 1-under par, Schauffele’s a 71 and Spaun’s a 73.
After signing his card, Schauffele was walking with his caddie when someone stopped him. “That round today was a steady drip, wasn’t it?” he was asked. Schauffele smiled at the recollection of his father’s maxim. “Yeah, it was steady,” he said. “I’m only four behind. Let’s hope it keeps drippin’.”
As Schauffele, Rahm and Spaun began their first round, a steward marshalling spectators at a crossing on the first hole was asked: “Is it going to rain?”
“Of course it’s going to rain,” he replied. “It’s Ireland. The storm clouds are gathering,” he said, glancing to the heavens. “Maybe even thunder and lightning later. We don’t want that. I think you’ll be lucky enough today.”
The luck held for a couple of hours but by the time the three of them had got to the ninth, the light drizzle had intensified to a firm rain that would later disappear as suddenly as it had begun. That made the terrain over which the Dunluce Links spreads itself resemble a tableau of green speckled with the blues, yellows, greens and whites of a thousand golf umbrellas.
There are blessings about being in Ireland and the friendliness of the people is one such. “Thanks a million” followed by a wide smile is a standard way the Irish show their appreciation and it is in marked contrast to the Anglo-Saxon grunt of acknowledgement accompanied by a wintry smile.
Not for nothing is Royal Portrush known for its views and its difficulty. Look from the fifth tee, down a plunging fairway to a distant green edging the grey swirl of the sea beyond. That is memorable. The string of rocks known as the Skerries catch the eye in the foreground and on a clear day Scotland is visible in the far distance. The coast spreads away to the left and steep-faced rocky cliffs march to the right.
Rahm, hoping to become the first Spaniard to win the Open Championship since Seve Ballesteros in 1988 and the first Spaniard to hold three of the game’s four greatest championships, played good golf as he had in this year’s PGA Championship, where he finished tied eighth, and the U.S. Open, where he was tied seventh.
Turnberry has views to die for but some of its holes might be marginally less heroic than those at Portrush. Muirfield’s course may be among the fairest of all, sharing this title with Royal Birkdale, and its views up the coast towards Edinburgh take some beating. No venue rivals the Old Course at St Andrews for its palpable sense of history and the charming way that it starts and ends almost in the centre of the auld town.
Royal St George’s is notable for its proximity to France (nearer than London), its welcoming clubhouse and for its avian chorus provided by the skylarks. Carnoustie is known for occasional gunfire from the nearby Barry Buddon gun ranges. But Portrush has it all: views that could grace a picture postcard, sand dune after sand dune, which makes walking and watching an arduous process, and in the Dunluce Links a magnificent test of golf.
All in all, the rain that fell between the time Schauffele and Co. teed off and finished their rounds dampened the spirits and the clothes. But it did little to diminish the opinion that Royal Portrush may be the best combination of being visually stunning and fearsomely testing of those courses used for an Open Championship.
Rahm, hoping to become the first Spaniard to win the Open Championship since Seve Ballesteros in 1988 and the first Spaniard to hold three of the game’s four greatest championships, played good golf as he had in this year’s PGA Championship, where he finished tied eighth, and the U.S. Open, where he was tied seventh. He said he did not take enough advantage of the holes that were downwind. “Still, pars out here are never going to hurt you …” he said.
He was put off by a spectator who whistled as he was driving on the 11th. “I mean, if I were to paint a picture, you have the hardest tee shot on the course, raining, into the wind off the left, it’s enough. I know they’re not doing it on purpose. It just seemed like somebody trying to get a hold of someone for whatever it is. It was bad timing. I think I just used the moment to let out any tension I had in me.
“I feel like I was making good swings though with the rain it’s always tough to say. Water gets between the ball and the club and it can go anywhere. But I’d like those good swings to somehow produce the shot that I like to see. But besides that, a really good day.”
For him and for Schauffele if less so for Spaun.