Matt Fitzpatrick, Harris English among 5 tied for Open lead - ESPN

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — 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.

One of the longest days was also among the more fickle in the 165 years of this major.

Five players from a record five countries tied for the lead at 4-under 67, the biggest logjam in this championship since 1938. There was sun and there was rain, a wee breeze and big gusts, and the Open wasn't even three hours old.

The one predictable part Thursday: Scottie Scheffler right in the mix.

And what make the massive throng at Royal Portrush tolerate rounds that approached six hours was seeing their favorite son, Rory McIlroy, birdie the 17th to recover from a bad patch on the back nine and join the 31 players who broke par.

Former U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick of England handled the notorious «Calamity Corner» par-3 16th by chipping in for birdie. Harris English, the unflappable American whose longtime caddie couldn't get a travel visa for the UK because of prison time served 20 years ago, put his short-game coach on the bag and made seven birdies.

They were joined by Haotong Li of China, Christiaan Bezuidenhout of South Africa and Jacob Skov Olesen of Denmark.

One shot behind was Scheffler, the world No. 1 who has not finished out of the top 10 in the last four months, a stretch that includes another major among three wins.

McIlroy made bogey on the opening hole with an entire country behind him — that was still three shots better than his start in 2019 — and overcame three bogeys in a four-hole stretch with a key birdie on No. 17