2024 British Open leaderboard breakdown: Shane Lowry posts career low in Round 1 with Justin Thomas in pursuit

Lowry posted a tough-to-execute bogey-free 66 to sit one back of the lead at Royal Troon

Royal Troon provided the most difficult opening round at The Open Championship since the 2013 of the tournament, so perhaps it should come as no surprise that a man like Shane Lowry sits near the top of the leaderboard after 18 holes of play. Carding a bogey-free 66, the 2019 champion clipped the course scoring average at Royal Troon by more than eight strokes and positioned himself one shot behind shocking leader Daniel Brown (-6). Both stand in front of notable names like Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Brooks Koepka and Scottie Scheffler.

Lowry's 66 represents the lowest opening round in his major career and his first 18-hole lead at such a tournament. It matches his previous best position at this juncture of The Open: He trailed J.B. Holmes by a single stroke at Royal Portrush in 2019. That led to the lone victory of Lowry's major career as he raised the Claret Jug that Sunday.

"I played pretty good. I'm pretty happy. But it's only one day. We've got three more days," Lowry said. "I kept telling myself that out there because, for some reason, I felt like the crowd were getting very excited out there. It was late in the afternoon. A few points, the attendance were high out there, I'd say. They were quite excitable out there, and it felt more like the weekend.

"I just kept on telling myself there's a lot more to do and there's a few days left, so I just kind of stayed in my lane and hit some good shots, and I was pretty happy with how I handled myself."

Teeing off in the afternoon hours, the Irishman received a reprieve from the conditions relative to those who were out on the golf course Thursday morning. With the wind dying down a bit, Lowry coupled solid ball striking with a scorching hot putter to ascend to the top of the leaderboard.

Needing just 25 putts on the day, he rolled in all 14 of his attempts inside 10 feet, including a 5-foot birdie bid on the last to take a portion of the lead into Friday. Brown trailed Lowry on both the golf course and leaderboard at that juncture, but once the Englishman grabbed a birdie late on No. 16, Lowry had company at the top. Another birdie on the last for Brown shot him all the way to the top of the leaderboard. 

That's where The Open stands with 54 holes to play as Lowry aims to become the first player since Ernie Els in 2012 to claim a second Claret Jug.

"If I don't play well the next three rounds, it doesn't matter what I shot today," Lowry said. "I'm fully aware that I have a job to do over the next three days. Look, I'd give anything to win this tournament again. I'd give anything to give myself a chance to win this tournament again, and that's why I'm here this week. This is obviously a great start to do that."

2024 Open Championship leaderboard, Round 1

1. Daniel Brown (-6): Lowry's presence near the top of the leaderboard was unsurprising. Brown, on the other hand, is the definition of surprising sitting in a solo lead after 18 holes. Before finishing outside the top 60 at the Scottish Open and cashing a paycheck, he had missed six straight cuts on the DP World Tour. Brown looked like a completely different man today carding one of three bogey-free rounds and missing just one fairway. 

2. Shane Lowry (-5)

3. Justin Thomas (-3): How does a 14-stroke improvement sound? After starting last year's Open with an 82, Thomas began this year's championship with a 68. A first-round leader at the Scottish Open, he finished outside the top 60 by week's end. So, Thomas will need to prove that he can keep a good thing going over these next 54 holes. Major championships have not been kind to him over the last two years as he entered this week having missed the cut in five of the last seven.

T4. Justin Rose, Xander Schauffele, Alex Noren, Nicolai Hojgaard, Russell Henley (-2): Rose is the seasoned veteran on this leaderboard as the Englishman was flawless Thursday with two birdies against 16 pars. He ranked second in strokes gained tee to green and should have realistic staying power having contended at the PGA Championship already this season. After needing to go through Open qualifying, Rose has positioned himself to win The Open with 54 holes to go.

"It's obvious, isn't it? [I'm] 44 soon. History would suggest [the clock is ticking]," Rose said. "But I think The Open offers you that opportunity maybe more than some of the other majors. Yeah, still feel very kind of confident in myself that I can actually still improve tomorrow versus today. As long as that's the case, I'll keep kind of believing for sure."

T11. Scottie Scheffler, Brooks Koepka, Adam Scott, Matt Fitzpatrick, Sepp Straka, Matt Wallace, Chris Kirk (-1): This group is littered with major champions. Scheffler put together a sneaky effort Thursday carding birdies on two of his last three holes to slide into red figures. Meanwhile, Koepka found something with his putter -- which has abandoned him for the most part in 2024 -- and rattled off four straight birdies at one point in his first round. Scott was fantastic from tee to green as well ranking inside the top five in what was his 93rd straight major appearance.

T18. Jordan Spieth, Tony Finau, Joaquin Niemann, Min Woo Lee and nine others (E): Want to talk about firepower? This crop of players have exactly that. Spieth got up and down from 300 yards on the par-5 16th to find himself in red figures briefly. A dropped shot on No. 17 pushed him back to even just as it did to Finau hours earlier. Both players hit their irons solidly, but it was Niemann who was the most lethal off the tee hitting 12 of 14 fairways.

T31. Robert MacIntyre, Matthieu Pavon, Billy Horschel and eight others (+1): MacIntyre joked he may not have had the best preparation for this championship due to a Monday hangover following his Scottish Open victory. Despite that, the Scotsman hung tough. A closing birdie helped to ease the sting of a couple lip-out birdies during the middle portion of his round. MacIntyre has quietly been a great major competitor over the years and looks to be in a good spot once again.

T42. Jon Rahm, Brian Harman, Tyrrell Hatton, Phil Mickelson, Patrick Cantlay and 23 others (+2): It's been a disappointing major championship season for Rahm, but despite carding a 73, there's still a chance to turn things around. All these players came in below the course average and many of them faced the toughest of the conditions. Rahm struggled off the tee, Harman found trouble coming into the greens, and Hatton said he hit the ball as poorly as he has all year.

"The greens are firm. The greens are really firm," Harman said. "We got the text this morning that they had gone up probably like 5 percent or so in the firmness, and it was very apparent, especially coming downwind. It's almost impossible to stop the ball."

T70. Dustin Johnson, Davis Thompson, Keegan Bradley and 10 others (+3)
T83. Ludvig Åberg, Viktor Hovland, Hideki Matsuyama and 10 others (+4)

T96. Bryson DeChambeau, Tommy Fleetwood, Tom Kim, Max Homa, Sungjae Im, Will Zalatoris and 18 others (+5): DeChambeau got punched in the face immediately as he played his first six holes in 5 over. After turning in 42, the U.S. Open champion did well to claw back on his second nine. An eagle on No. 16 put his name just outside the cutline heading into the second round.

T120. Sahith Theegala, Henrik Stenson, Lucas Glover and seven others (+6)

T129. Rory McIlroy, Wyndham Clark, Louis Oosthuizen and five others (+7): McIlroy's redemption story will have to find a new setting. After playing his first seven holes in even par, the four-time major champion played his next four holes in 5 over. Two bogeys across his last four holes put a bow on one of the worst rounds in McIlroy's Open career.

T138. Tiger Woods, Rickie Fowler and five others (+8): With his round of 79, Woods' scoring average in majors this season is now 75.4. He got off to a great start with an early birdie but sloppiness throughout the bag caused Tiger's name to tumble down the leaderboard as the round progressed. He hasn't played a weekend at The Open since 2018 at Carnoustie, an event he nearly won.

"I mean, he's only playing major championships," Schauffele said of Woods. "He's making it as hard on himself as possible, and I know he's hard on himself, too. It's just hard. I think he's just learning. He's got to learn a little bit more about his body, what he can and can't do. I'm sure he'd like to prep more at home if his body would allow it. This is all stuff -- I'm not sure he tells you guys this stuff or not. But as a tour pro now, I kind of know what goes into it and what needs to be done to play at a high level. If your body is not letting you do it, it's just frustrating. I'm sure he's trying to figure that out."

Rick Gehman, Greg DuCharme and Kyle Porter recap solid opening rounds from Shane Lowry and Justin Thomas and discuss the action from Royal Troon on Thursday. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

[Jul 18, 2024 at 3:18 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Scheffler signs for sneaky 70

The world No. 1 hits it to 1 foot on No. 18 to post 1 under. It was nothing fancy from Scottie Scheffler on Thursday. He carded four birdies against three bogeys, missed a couple opportunities from inside 10 feet and played his usual game. He's only four back as he goes for his third major over the next three days.

[Jul 18, 2024 at 3:10 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Shane Lowry signs for 66

The round of the day belongs to Shane Lowry. A birdie on the last is Lowry's fifth and gets him to 5 under for this championship. Getting around Royal Troon bogey-free, the Irishman leaned heavily on his putter gaining more than six strokes on the greens with the flat stick in hand.

[Jul 18, 2024 at 2:57 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Spieth, Scheffler get into red figures

The two Texans take advantage of the par-5 16th to inch closer to the leaders at 4 under. Scottie Scheffler misses his eagle chance from 10 feet, but before he attempted his, Jordan Spieth made his from 16 feet. The two are now 1 under and only three back as they finish up Round 1.

[Jul 18, 2024 at 2:28 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Lowry looks for fast finish

Our leader is still bogey-free and still 4 under with a few holes to go. Lowry will have a great chance to push his one-stroke lead out even further with the par-5 16th and gettable par-4 18th on deck. The wind is laid down ever so slightly, so those on the golf course should be licking their lips at these conditions.

[Jul 18, 2024 at 1:57 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

I have no idea how Jordan Spieth is even par

This back nine from Jordan Spieth has been … eventful. He's flaring iron shots 30, 40 yards off target only to get up-and-down and save par. When he's gotten a wedge in hand, he has been effective and he just rolled in an 11 footer on 13 to crawl back to even par. The same score as his playing partners Scottie Scheffler and Cameron Young. Only four back.

[Jul 18, 2024 at 1:48 pm ET · Kyle Porter]

Good stuff here from 2016 winner, Henrik Stenson on the peculiar wind around Royal Troon: "It was tough conditions, playing the front nine in a not so common wind, nothing we practiced this week really and nothing I've played in in past. I've only played here once in '16, but I've never experienced that strong into on the front nine. It was more of a flipped one today where you kind of got to hang on on the front nine and then you'll have it a little bit easier coming home. Normally it's the other way around."

[Jul 18, 2024 at 1:46 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Lowry's putting prowess

He's pouring them in from everywhere

The Open