European Ryder Cup player reacts to the conditions at Royal Portrush after finishing his first round at The Open

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The first round of The Open Championship is underway, and as expected, the conditions are a major talking point.

Royal Portrush is one of the finest links golf courses around, and the weather in Northern Ireland can be unpredictable.

It’s certainly going to be a difficult week for even the best golfers on the planet, but that makes for compelling viewing.

One European Ryder Cup player revealed what the conditions are like at Royal Portrush on day one of The Open.

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Nicolai Hojgaard reveals what Royal Portrush is playing like in Open first round

Nicolai Hojgaard is having a difficult 2025 season on the PGA Tour, with missed cuts at The Masters, The Players Championship, and the Canadian Open.

However, the Danish golfer impressed in his return to Europe with a top-five finish at the Scottish Open last week.

He also produced an excellent opening round 69 (-2) at The Open to put himself firmly in contention at this early stage.

Hojgaard explained to reporters that “the course is playing exactly how [the players] want it” so far.

“Yeah, I had to grind pretty hard to shoot a score today. I felt like I squeezed the most out of it, and sometimes those days are really nice to have.

“It was tricky; I thought the course was tricky. There was a lot of crosswind, and I felt like it was tough to hit the fairways.

“But yeah, the course is playing exactly how we want it. It’s tricky. The wind is tricky. But if you’re in control, you can make birdies out there.”

Nicolai Hojgaard says why it’s hard to ‘game plan’ for Royal Portrush

Driving the ball is particularly difficult on links golf courses because of the sloped fairways, deep bunkers, thick rough, and strong wind.

Hojgaard said that he was often confused about whether to hit driver during his first round at The Open.

“How many drivers did I hit? I hit a handful of drivers, maybe. Thinking about it, I could have hit probably a couple less or maybe a couple more.

“I feel like you’ve got a game plan until you get out there, and the wind is howling in from left and right, and you’ve got to figure out on the fly how the course is playing a little bit.

“We had a game plan, but there were a few times where I was like, what do we do here, because the course is firm. On 10, I hit through the fairway with a 3-wood. It’s good fun figuring out this golf course.”

The 17th hole at Royal Portrush challenged Hojgaard and his caddie to make a decision between driver and three wood.

“17. We were talking about it’s a driver when it’s playing into the wind, but I didn’t hit many good drives in that left-to-right wind, so I felt like I needed to hit a 3-wood.

“Hit a decent shot, just I was a bit too far right and was in the rough and got away with it. I think on the fly, you’ve got to feel what you’re comfortable with, and definitely when you get those crosswinds.”