British Open 2025: It's one of the most terrifying opening tee shots in major history. Stats reveal pros' strategy

Nothing spooks pros more than white stakes, and the very first tee shot at Royal Portrush features two sets of them.

Out of bounds down the left and right sides meant players see the lifespan of their 2025 British Open dreams flash before their eyes. Players spend their lives working to give themselves a chance to win an Open. At Royal Portrush, that dream could effectively end the literal moment it started—just as Rory McIlroy's did six years ago.

The hole itself is brilliant, a strategic headache for players. The fairway is less than 50 yards wide at its widest point, and less than 70 yards between the out of bounds. There's a bunker exactly in the range of players' 2-irons; another one right in 3-wood range; and the fairway pinches to less than 30 yards to tempt them away from hitting driver over everything. Ben Griffin tried that route, notched the highest ball speed of anybody on the hole during his first round—but his ball finished OB because of it.

So how did players navigate this seemingly impossible challenge? We pored through more than 1,700 data points provided by the team at Top Tracer. Here are a few strategies that emerged.

1. The Chip Driver

A sizable group of players, especially older ones, pulled their driver then proceeded to tee it low and bunt it into play. The upside of this approach is that you get the security of the big clubface that drivers offer, and can still stay relatively aggressive without having to work too hard for it.

Darren Clarke went the chip driver route for exactly that reason.

"I saw everybody else going with iron, leaving themselves 4-iron or something like that into the green. I said, 'I'm not doing that. Driver this time.' Then the other two boys who hit irons hit it in closer than me anyway. So maybe they know more than I do," he said.

K.J. Choi went the chip driver route, but it backfired because he effectively chunked his chip: His driver's ball speed was just 135 mph—about 15 mph slower than his cruising speed when he won the 2024 Senior Open Championship—and his spin rate ballooned to more than 7,000 RPMs. His chip driver carried just 172 yards, and didn't reach the fairway.

2. The Stinger

Most players went the route of a long-iron stinger, especially if they have lots of swing speed. For players where PGA Tour data was available, players hit the ball about 26 percent lower, on average, on this tee shot than their season-long average. Many went far lower than that. Nicolai Højgaard hit a particularly good, low draw stinger off the first that apexed at just 39 feet—more than 60 percent below his season average. Haotong Li roasted a stinger with 171 mph ball speed that apexed at just 66 feet. On paper, perhaps the best shot of the day.

Of course, when you don't commit to stingers, you end up smothering them to death. That's what happened to Cameron Smith, whose opened tee shot traveled just 153 yards.

"We warm up on the range, and it's kind of down out of the right and you kind of lead yourself into a bit of false sense of security, and then you get there, and it's like, yeah, all right. Really need to step up here. I think I tried to hit that one underground and almost missed it. Not the greatest start to a major championship I've ever had, but from there it was actually all right," he said.

3. The Stock Long Iron

As Smith showed, stingers can be tricky shots to hit when you're nervous. So a sizable group of players went with a stock swing with a long iron. The upside is that you don't have to make any adjustments; the downside is that it's more susceptible to the wind. Bryson DeChambeau, Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy went this route, as did the man who hit the first shot of the tournament: Padraig Harrington.

"I hyped up the tee shot as much as I could so when I got there today, it wasn't too bad. I was decently comfortable when I got on the tee. Obviously didn't try for too much, hit a nice smooth 3-iron down there," he said. "I probably hit 30 3-irons, 40 3-irons in my warmup. Every time I came up and hit a 3-iron, OK, the wind is there, kept practicing the shot. I hit that shot a lot before I had to do it in the actual tournament."

4. The Not-Sure 3-Wood

A small group of players sort of split the difference by hitting a 3-wood. Thomas Detry was a good example of this. He wanted to hit driver, but was a little scared by the idea even though he wanted to stay aggressive. Ultimately, 3-wood was the last club left standing.

"I'd quite like to hit a little driver but then the wind is off the right hard. If it comes off a little bit left with a draw, it's OB. You're very conscious of it," he said. "You sort of want to be a bit more aggressive off the tee and make sure that you get it in play a bit more aggressively to give yourself a better chance to make par because it's really long. I feel like for me, I hit 3-wood but probably a chipped driver would have been the right shot."