The Open Diary: Glorious Royal St George's is the star

By Sports Desk July 15, 2021

As if to welcome the return of this glorious tournament after two years in the dark, the sun shone brightly on the opening round of the 149th Open Championship.

Royal St George's was initially basked in a warm glow as a crowd of more than 30,000 were treated to a spectacular day of golf at the famous links in Sandwich.

Louis Oosthuizen closed the round top of the leaderboard, but it was the course itself that took centre stage.

And Stats Perform's man on the ground was out and about, taking notes of all the happenings on the other side of the ropes.

SEAVIEW AND FREEVIEW!

There is a large grass mound at the far end of the course that affords a stunning vantage point across the whole links.

A sizeable crowd gathered there from early in the morning, taking in the view from high above the sixth green, with the North Sea glistening in the sunshine away to the east.

But there is another option, with Princes Drive running alongside the course but outside of its perimeter and allowing an unobstructed view of the fifth green, while the sea is a stone's throw away, with plenty of projectiles available on Sandwich Bay's pebble beach.

DINO-SOARING TEMPERATURES

Fancy dress is a common sight at golf tournaments but you should choose your outfit wisely.

The weather forecast in Kent is promising to serve up the best of British summertime over the four days of competition and it made one man's decision to don a dinosaur onesie appear quite ill-judged.

He was to be found roaming the fairway's edge around the seventh hole, and would no doubt soon have been in search of water. Or maybe he was just waiting for Roary McIlroy...

FAN-TASTIC

It was a joy to see so many fans in attendance in Sandwich, with several players commenting on how much it improved the experience for them.

After a prolonged spell of being deprived of such things, Jordan Spieth was among those to welcome the return of crowds to enhance the spectacle.

He said: "I feel like the fans here are very knowledgeable about the sport, and they're also having a great time.

"It's just like at Augusta, it's just a beautiful setting a lot of times, shaping a lot of the holes with people."

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