HereS a breakdown of the key takeaways from the provided text, organized by topic:
Rory mcilroy’s Performance:
Remarkable Scoring Despite Off-the-Tee Issues: McIlroy achieved a rare feat by scoring under par with only two fairways hit, a feat only accomplished by a few in the last quarter-century.
Strong All-Around Game: Despite wild driving, McIlroy excelled in other areas, gaining strokes in approaches, around the green, and putting.
Putting Prowess: his putting has been a notable trend in 2025, moving him from outside the top 100 to fourth in strokes gained putting on the PGA tour, even surpassing his off-the-tee performance.
Positive Recent Form: He’s a combined 13-under-par in his last five competitive rounds, even with cumulative losses off the tee.
Jon Rahm‘s Potential:
Solid Opening Round: Rahm shot a 70, his lowest opening round at the Open sence 2019.
Historical Ominousness: This is significant as he had the best cumulative score to par in the Opens between 2019 and the current one.
Poised for Improvement: With his typically slowest round out of the way, he’s expected to make significant progress.
Spanish Open History: Seve Ballesteros is the only Spaniard to win the Open, with his last victory in 1988.
The Open Championship’s Favoritism towards Experience:
Older Players Thrive: The Open historically favors experienced players,with winners averaging higher ages and more major starts.
Elder Statesmen Show Out: This trend was evident in the first round with older players performing well.
Lee westwood (52): Shot a 2-under, his 19th career round in the 60s at the Open. phil Mickelson (55): Shot a 1-under, his first opening round under par at the open since 2016.
Sergio Garcia (45): shot a 1-under 71, making over 94 feet of putts. This was his 42nd career round under par in the championship, fifth-most since 1963.
Combined Experience: The veteran trio has a combined 85 Open appearances and 291 official rounds.
Xander Schauffele and Bryson DeChambeau’s Performances:
Xander Schauffele (Defending Champion): Carded a solid 71, with three birdies and three bogeys. He also gained strokes off the tee, despite struggling with his driver this season. He’s four shots back after Round 1, similar to last year.
Bryson DeChambeau: had a disappointing afternoon, failing to make a birdie for only the second time in his major career.His 78 was his highest opening round score in a major. His putting, usually a weakness, was strong, but his approach play suffered, losing over four shots to the field.
Afternoon Draw Advantage:
Lower Scoring Average: The afternoon half of the draw had a scoring average of 72.4, about 1.3 strokes lower than the morning half. Historical Trend: Six of the previous nine Open winners started in the afternoon in Round 1.
* Contender Proximity: All of the last 25 Open champions have been within five shots of the lead after Round 1.
