Brown leads English contingent at The Open as McIlroy struggles

The 154th Open Championship first-round leaderboard:

-5 J Suber (US), -4 D Brown (Eng), Im (Kor)

-3 T Detry (Bel), R MacIntyre (Sco), F Molinari (Ita), A Smalley (US), B DeChambeau (US), R Gerard (US), MJ Daffue (SA), P Coody (US), C Young (US)

English hopes for a first Open winner for 34 years were boosted with eight players under par after the first round - but Masters champion Rory McIlroy ended the day seven shots off the lead.

McIlroy endured a rollercoaster first round at Royal Birkdale which included six bogeys and four birdies in his two-over round of 72.

American Jackson Suber leads the way on five under par, one shot ahead of England's Dan Brown and South Korea's Im Sung-jae.

Sir Nick Faldo was the last English player to win The Open, at Muirfield in 1992. You have to go back to 1969 for the last English winner on English soil - Tony Jacklin at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

When England's hopes of winning the football World Cup were extinguished on Wednesday, it paved the way for the nation's top golfers to take centre stage and lift the mood of the Royal Birkdale crowd on Thursday.

The 31-year-old from Yorkshire shot a four-under 66 early on day one of the 154th Open Championship, as he and Suber took advantage of scoreable early conditions on the Merseyside links.

"It's only Thursday but hopefully I'm in a sort of similar area on the leaderboard come Sunday," Brown said.

No golfer wins the Open after 18 holes - or any other tournament for that matter - but they sure can put themselves out of contention.

Local hero Tommy Fleetwood, who hails from nearby Southport, did exactly that when Birkdale last hosted the Open in 2017 with an opening round of six over.

This year, Fleetwood was determined to make amends and scrapped to a solid one-under 69 which means he has plenty to build on over the next three days.

Day one of the Open as it happened

Which Open golfer are you?

First round exactly what I wanted - MacIntyre

Six other Englishman - Jordan Smith, Matt Wallace, Laurie Canter, Alex Fitzpatrick, Matthew Southgate and Tyrrell Hatton - also shot under par in a strong showing from the home contingent.

But Matt Fitzpatrick, who was one of the pre-Open favourites, finished two over after a difficult evening in the tougher, windier conditions.

Northern Ireland's McIlroy played alongside his European Ryder Cup team-mate as the pair toiled late on a baking day, although he did finish positively with a birdie on the 18th.

Fitzpatrick and McIlroy must improve to ensure they make the weekend cut but they will go out early on Friday in more benign conditions, with stronger winds forecast to blow through the afternoon.

Suber, 26, had never even been to Europe before arriving for The Open and all of the previous 27 holes he had ever played on a links course came this week at Birkdale.

Scotland's Robert MacIntyre is two shots behind Suber and joined in a large pack on three under, which includes two-time major winner Bryson DeChambeau and Italian veteran Francesco Molinari, who won this title at Carnoustie in 2018.

Englishmen aiming to end 57 years of hurt

Each time the Open returns to England, the history books are reopened to remind how long it has been since an English golfer lifted the Claret Jug on home soil.

After a 57-year wait, there is plenty of evidence to suggest an Englishman can finally buck the trend at Birkdale.

World number three Matt Fitzpatrick has been picked out by many people as the man who can, having won three times on the PGA Tour this year and finished in a tie for third place on the links at last week's Scottish Open.

Fleetwood has been backed by heads as well as hearts, with veteran Justin Rose and US PGA Championship winner Aaron Rai also seen as pre-tournament contenders.

What about 31-year-old Brown? There is often more talk about his colourful character than his game.

The son of a Yorkshire pig farmer, Brown smokes on the course - although is being extremely vigilant not to cause a fire-risk at Birkdale - and is covered in tattoos.

More recently, Brown has been showing on social media how much he has been enjoying playing on the US-based PGA Tour - and using his free time to swim in the South Carolina sea with a rubber ring and explore Dallas wearing a Stetson hat.

On the course, Brown has not been enjoying himself so much. He has missed the cut at each of his past four tournaments.

But he has returned to the Open with the confidence of knowing he has performed well before.

At Troon two years ago, Brown sensationally took the lead in fading light on day one and eventually finished in a tie for 10th place.