British Open 2026: Scottie Scheffler goes on birdie run on Birkdale's front nine

The world’s top-ranked player kickstarted his Open Championship defense with four front-nine birdies Thursday morning at Royal Birkdale.

Report of Scottie Scheffler’s demise? Overblown. Despite coming off his first missed cut in nearly four years last Friday at the Genesis Scottish Open, the world’s top-ranked player kickstarted his Open Championship defense with four front-nine birdies Thursday morning at Royal Birkdale.

Scheffler didn’t have a birdie look longer than 18 feet through his first five holes. He converted three of those – 14 feet at No. 2, 7 feet at No. 3 and 5 feet at No. 5. He then added a birdie from distance, sinking a 43-footer at the par-4 sixth, which at the time gave him the solo lead.

Though Scheffler chipped through the green and bogeyed the par-3 seventh, he still turned at 3 under, just a shot off Sungjae Im’s lead. He and playing competitors, Bryson DeChambeau and Tyrrell Hatton, were a combined 7 under through nine holes.