"There's not many golf courses like that": Lee Westwood full of admiration for Royal Portrush after first round at the Open Championship

On the 30th anniversary of his first Open appearance, the 52-year-old was bogey-free through 13 holes, reaching four under after birdieing all three par fives and driving the par-four fifth.

However, with the rain coming in, he three-putted the 14th and then found trouble at the notoriously-difficult par-three 16th to finish with a two-under 69.

His score firmly sees him in the upper echelons of the scoreboard after the first day, six years on after finishing joint-fourth on this course six years ago.

Westwood had to go through qualifying to make it into the field – something he was always going to do due to the venue.

“I do...that's part of the reason I tried to qualify,” Westwood said after his round about Royal Portrush.

"I love The Open Championship, and I love Portrush. I've been coming here a long time. It's one of the golf courses where, if it wasn't The Open and somebody said ‘do you want to play Portrush this weekend?’, I'd probably go. There's not many golf courses like that.

Fellow English star Matthew Fitzpatrick also had a fruitful afternoon as he carded a four-under-par round of 67 to take a share of the lead.

The former US Open champion got off to a flying start with a 22-foot eagle putt at the second hole, although he immediately bogeyed the next.

Two more birdies were to follow, but the highlight was holing out for birdie from the steep bank on the treacherous Calamity Corner par-three 16th.

"This tournament always has the best fans obviously, even more so probably over here as well,” Fitzpatrick said after his round.

"They just understand golf so well, and good shots are rewarded with lots of claps. So that was a good thing.

"I think this place is fantastic. I think I've been lucky enough to play multiple Open venues now over the course of my career.

"There's a couple that haven't been played for a while that I absolutely love as well. So it would be nice to go back to those two. I definitely think this is up there.”

2013 Champion Golfer of the Year, Phil Mickelson, also gave positive feedback about the course and spectators.

"I just find that it's a very rewarding course if you hit good shots and a very penalising course,” he continued.

"It seems to be consistent with the degree of how good or bad you hit it.

"Like if you hit a really good shot, it gets really rewarded. If you hit a really bad shot, it gets in a really bad spot, as opposed to getting away with really bad shots and get lucky. It seems like it penalizes it to the degree which it should.

"The people here are just so nice. They're very warm and receptive for everybody. I think they're very appreciative too that The Open has come back here. And we as players are very appreciative too because it's such a great golf course.”