It was nice to finally be back at a links course on Thursday for the opening round of the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club.
And we already had some carnage.
Matt Fitzpatrick, the 2022 U.S. Open champion, found himself in a few precarious situations during the first round thanks to some pot bunkers, and Viktor Hovland followed up a cold shank with a duff.
Gotta love golf in Scotland.
Fourteen of the world’s top 15 ranked players teed it up Thursday, and due to the wind that picked up in the afternoon, many were left behind by the early wave that was able to take advantage of better scoring conditions.
Here are five takeaways from the first round at The Renaissance. Let’s start with the man atop the leaderboard.
Scottish Open: PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ | Leaderboard