The 154th Open Championship first-round leaderboard:

-5 J Suber (US), -4 D Brown (Eng), Im (Kor)

-3 T Detry (Bel), R MacIntyre (Sco), F Molinari (Ita), A Smalley (US), B DeChambeau (US), R Gerard (US), MJ Daffue (SA), P Coody (US), C Young (US)

Full leaderboard

There is still a good chance that ‘It’s Coming Home’ this weekend.

When England’s hopes of winning the World Cup were extinguished on Wednesday, it paved the way for the nation’s top golfers to take centre stage and lift the mood of the Royal Birkdale crowd.

No English player has won The Open for 34 years, when Sir Nick Faldo triumphed at Muirfield. You have to go back to 1969 for the last English winner on English soil – Tony Jacklin at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

But step forward Dan Brown.

The 31-year-old from Yorkshire shot a four-under 66 early on day one of the 154th Open Championship, to sit one behind another unheralded player, American leader Jackson Suber, as he took advantage of scoreable early conditions on the Merseyside links.

“It’s only Thursday but hopefully I’m in a sort of similar area on the leaderboard come Sunday,” Brown said.

No golfer wins the Open after 18 holes – or any other tournament for that matter – but they sure can put themselves out of contention.

Local hero Tommy Fleetwood, who hails from nearby Southport, did exactly that when Birkdale last hosted the Open in 2017 with an opening round of six over.

This year, Fleetwood was determined to make amends and scrapped to a solid one-under 69 which means he has plenty to build on over the next three days.

Six other Englishman – Jordan Smith, Matt Wallace, Laurie Canter, Alex Fitzpatrick, Matthew Southgate, Tyrrell Hatton – also shot under par in a strong showing from the home contingent.

But Matt Fitzpatrick, who was one of the pre-Open favourites, finished two over after a difficult evening in the tougher, firmer conditions.

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy played alongside his European Ryder Cup team-mate as the pair toiled late on as the winds strengthened on another baking day, also carding a 72 after finishing positively with a birdie on the 18th.

Fitzpatrick and McIlroy are already seven shots behind surprise leader Suber and must also improve to ensure they make the weekend cut when they go out early on Friday in more benign conditions.

Suber, 26, had never even been to Europe before arriving for The Open and all of the previous 27 holes he had ever played on a links course came this week at Birkdale.

Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre is two shots behind Suber and joined in a large pack on three under, which also includes two-time major winner Bryson DeChambeau and Italian veteran Francesco Molinari.

More to follow.