What The Open organisers have done on day one which LIV Golfer who has played Portrush 50 times has never seen before

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Tom McKibbin will be relatively content with his opening round at The Open Championship at Royal Portrush, with the LIV Golf star finishing up at one over par on Thursday.

It appeared that the nerves which impacted Rory McIlroy at Royal Portrush may be about to get to Tom McKibbin on the first tee. He made a bogey after finding the thick rough off the tee.

However, the 22-year-old was able to recover from the nervy start. He made two birdies and an eagle before the turn. And while the back nine was much more challenging, it seems that McKibbin is far from being out of the mix with three rounds to go.

And it seems that McKibbin was in little doubt about one of the biggest challenges at Portrush on Thursday.

Tom McKibbin left surprised after his first round at The Open Championship

There seemed to be a good opportunity to get off to a strong start early on the first day, with the conditions fairly calm. However, accessing some of the pin positions proved to be a real test.

In fact, McKibbin – who has been a member at the Northern Irish course – suggested that he was taken aback by the set-up for the first round.

“It was tricky. Some of the pin positions are really good. They’re just over just slopes. I played here so many times, and you would never even think of seeing pins where they are. It played pretty tricky,” he said, in his press conference after the round.

It would appear that playing partner Pádraig Harrington would agree with McKibbin’s assessment. Speaking on Sky Sports, David Howell noted that the two-time Open champion was a little baffled as they made their way up the fifth hole.

“Funnily enough, I’ve just seen the pin, as has Padraig. We walked up to the green together and he said: ‘David, imagine when we first started, the person that’s put the pin where it is would have been sacked in about five minutes’. Safe to say it’s a tricky one,” he said.

Work to do, but Tom McKibbin has given himself a chance at Royal Portrush

McKibbin was tipped by some to be a dark horse to contend at The Open. Few players in the field will know more about Portrush than the Legion XIII player.

But clearly, he is going to have to improve if he is going to put himself in the mix for the weekend. Judging by his comments about his round, McKibbin suggested that there is plenty more to come from him after his first 18 holes.

“Yeah, it was as you say. A little bit of everything in there, a little bit of a good, a little bit of bad. Overall one over. Not great, but not bad. Overall not too annoyed but not happy. It was overall a very sort of up-and-down day,” he said.

“I don’t know. Obviously I was two over after three. I don’t really feel like I hit too bad of a shot to sort of be in that position. I just missed the fairway on 1 and didn’t have a good lie at all. I hit a good shot into three and came up a little bit short. Then I hit it down the middle of the fairway on four and it was in a divot. It was just not going my way. Hit a good bunker shot on five and made a birdie there, sort of one over after five isn’t too bad.

“Then started to play quite nicely after that. I only sort of struggled on the holes with the wind off the left. Besides that, it was okay.”

Much will depend on the weather conditions. But it certainly seems that McKibbin has at least not played himself out of contention with his opening round.