Louis Oosthuizen Leads 2021 British Open After First-Round 64; Jordan Spieth a Shot Back

(Photo : Gareth Fuller/PA Images via Getty Images) South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen lines up a shot on the 16th tee with the help of his caddie during day one of The Open at The Royal St George's Golf Club in Sandwich, Kent. Picture date: Thursday July 15, 2021.

The Open Championship returned with a bang on Thursday, and a familiar name was spotted at the top of the leaderboard. Louis Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open champion, fired a six-under-par 64 in the opening round to grab a one-shot lead over Jordan Spieth and Brian Harman after the first 18 holes of the year's final golfing major at Royal St. George's.

Oosthuizen is looking for his second major win after a string of near-misses in recent years. He has six runner-up finishes in major tournaments since capturing the British Open title in 2010, including each of the last two majors at the PGA Championship and the US Open.

Former Open champions Oosthuizen and Spieth soar to the top

The South African started slowly on Thursday, opening his round with seven straight pars before heating up with six birdies over his next nine holes. He then saved par from a fairway bunker on the 18th hole to finish with a 64, which tied Christy O'Connor Jr.'s record set in 1981 for the lowest opening round at Royal St. George's.

Joining Oosthuizen at the top was Jordan Spieth, one shot back after a five-under-par round of 65. Just like Oosthuizen, Spieth took full advantage of the calm morning conditions to post the seventh round of his career in major championships in the 60s.

Spieth is slowly rounding into form after a rough stretch that saw him drop to 92nd in the world golf rankings at one point. Since missing the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open last January, Spieth had finished in the top-15 in seven of his last eight tournaments, including a win at the Valero and a tie for third at the Masters.

Spieth, looking to win his first British Open title since 2017 when he captured the crown at Royal Birkdale, hit nine of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens in regulation in the opening round, needing just 27 putts in total for his first 18 holes.

Joining Spieth in second place was Brian Harman, who also shot a 65 after making five birdies in his first eight holes. Benjamin Hebert and Webb Simpson had the best scores in the afternoon, firing 66 to join three others for fourth place. Former PGA champion Collin Morikawa and hometown favorite Tommy Fleetwood were one shot further back at 67.

Lurking in a tie for 19th place with rounds of 68 were former Masters champions Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia. Four-time major champions Brooks Koepka and Rory McIlroy were also in contention after shooting rounds of 69 and 70, respectively.

One major champion who's surely going home for the weekend is Phil Mickelson. Lefty struggled in the opening round, finishing in the last place after shooting a horrendous 10-over-par 80.

DeChambeau in hot water after driver take

Bryson DeChambeau was yet another controversy after blaming his first-round woes in the Open on his driver. He shot a 1-over-par 71 after hitting just four of 14 fairways in the opening round, which led DeChambeau to say that "the driver sucks."

That didn't go well with Cobra Golf, the brand of DeChambeau's driver, with company representative and tour operations manager Ben Schomin saying, "It's just really, really painful when he says something that stupid." DeChambeau later apologized in a statement, saying, "The comment I made in my post round interview today was very unprofessional."