The Scottish Open has become a significant event on the golf schedule ever since it began serving as a partner tournament between the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. That has allowed the best players from both tours to come together for a chance to play links golf in preparation for The Open Championship a week later.

The British Open had a little bit of everything in Thursday's opening round, from sunshine to rain, a breeze to strong gusts. And no surprise, it had Scottie Scheffler never too far from the lead. He is one shot back of Denmark's Jacob Skov Olesen and four others.

Sunlight streaked through a few low-hanging clouds when Padraig Harrington opened the British Open with a piercing 3-iron into the wind. Darkness began covering Royal Portrush nearly 16 hours later Thursday night when the final group trudged off the 18th green.