Scottie Scheffler gives his opinion on what Shane Lowry was like as a playing partner during the first round at The Open

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There was no question that one of the marquee groups on day one at The Open Championship was the one which included Shane Lowry, Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa.

Of course, much of the attention was directed at Rory McIlroy at Royal Portrush. However, the group of Shane Lowry, Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa was definitely one to watch out for on Thursday at The Open Championship.

Scheffler is the world number one and looking to move past the halfway point in his quest to complete the Career Grand Slam. Meanwhile, both of his playing partners have previously lifted the Claret Jug.

Lowry, of course, was the champion the last time The Open was held in Northern Ireland, and he was always going to receive huge support from the galleries.

Scottie Scheffler comments on playing alongside Shane Lowry at The Open Championship

Scheffler is probably not used to not being the fan favourite in his groups on the PGA Tour. But it seems that he relished getting to experience teeing it up at the final major of the year alongside Lowry.

Speaking after his first round, Scheffler commented on being in the same group as the 2019 champion.

“Yeah, I always enjoy playing with Shane. Last week I got to play with Bob [MacIntyre] in Scotland as well so I’ve had some good pairings the last couple weeks. We’ve had great crowds the last two weeks, and I’m hoping it will be more of the same tomorrow,” he said.

“It was definitely fun getting to play with Shane and watching him play some links golf. I felt like we both competed really well today, and look forward to going out with him again tomorrow.”

Scottie Scheffler reacts to the tricky conditions at Royal Portrush

Scheffler’s group got caught up in some of the worst conditions of the opening day. And he explained how the rain during the middle of the round changed how the course was playing.

“We played basically seven through 13 in rain. A little bit of rain to start the round on one and two. A little over half the round, which is challenging,” he said.

“I felt like number seven is a good example. Without the rain, where the wind direction was for us to start the day would have been a little down off the left, and basically you can eliminate that one bunker, that big giant bunker on the right side of the fairway, and all of a sudden it starts raining sideways, the ball doesn’t go as far, and now you can still run into that left bunker but you can’t carry the right bunker, and instead of hitting driver and four iron, right now it’s driver and three wood.

“Just little stuff like that makes it really challenging. Then we get to number 12, and I hit what was a really good tee shot there that just happened to kick a little bit right and go into the bunker and just little — the margins out here are just really small. Sometimes the rain can make that pretty challenging.”

The weather has just a large say on how The Open Championship plays out each year. Everyone in the field will be aware that they will need some luck if they are going to go on and win.

It is quite something that Scheffler is very much in the mix after his 68 on Thursday. Clearly, it could have been considerably worse for the world number one.