Tommy Fleetwood was revelling in having some vociferous home support as he carded a brilliant 66 on day one of The 151st Open Championship.
The Englishman - who was born just up the road from Royal Liverpool in Southport - had huge crowds following him and he repaid them with his lowest opening round in the oldest Major Championship.
He carded six birdies and a single bogey to continue the form that has brought him three top tens in four starts and he was delighted to rise to the occasion with the pressure on.
“It really was a great day,” Fleetwood said. “It’s always very nerve-wracking playing in front of your home crowd in such a big event, but I got off to a decent start.
“I was actually happy to have to get up and down on the first, holing a putt really settled me down and to get that going on the back nine was really, really cool. To get that support all day was amazing.
“If you’re not going to enjoy this atmosphere and these experiences then what’s the point? Make sure you have the time of your life out there.
“Being this close to home is the coolest thing and I’m so grateful to everyone that cheers me on.
"I am one of them, one of the guys that's out there. I'm a fan of the game. I'm from this area. Yes I feel at home and to feel that support, it means a lot.
"Of course throughout the day, you can easily put too much pressure on yourself. You can easily try too hard. But just having that support and people egging you on, whether you've hit a good shot or a bad shot, good hole, bad hole. It just pushes you on and (I'm) very, very lucky, as I said at the start of the week, to be able to play an Open so close to home when we get to do it two, three, four times."
Loved hearing you all out there today!! More of the same please @TheOpen pic.twitter.com/SxqNfUmHeN
— Tommy Fleetwood (@TommyFleetwood1) July 20, 2023
After that up-and-down on the first, Fleetwood made a two-putt birdie on the par-five fifth but gave the shot straight back before putting an approach to ten feet at the seventh to turn in 34.
He then holed a 25-footer on the 11th and put another approach to ten feet on the 14th, starting a hat-trick of gains that also contained an up-and-down on the par-five 15th and a 26-foot putt on the next.
"For any tournament you just want to get off to a fast start," he said. "It's not really been my strength recently. Started tournaments pretty slow, so to get something going today felt really good.
"Honestly, from the fifth or sixth hole onwards I felt like I started hitting good golf shots and I had some chances but my putts were close, rolling at the hole. Just a case of finally getting on a run really through there.
"As first rounds go, that's absolutely the one you wanted, and to get off to a good start feels good."
