British Open 2025: Move over, Rory, this is the worst opening tee shot in Royal Portrush history

Andrew Redington

By Christopher Powers

July 17, 2025

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It won't go down in history like Rory McIlroy's opening tee shot at Royal Portrush in 2019, but K.J. Choi's first swipe at the ball on Thursday at the Open Championship may have been worse. And his ball stayed in bounds.

Choi, 55, is in the field by way of his 2024 Senior Open Championship victory, but he looked like he'd rather be anywhere else after Shot 1 on Hughie's, the Dunluce course's difficult opening par 4 that features out of bounds down the left and right side. Choi didn't exactly flirt with OB, however.

He didn't flirt with the fairway, either. And we're not talking about the middle of it, we're talking about the very front of it. Pain:

Hey, we've all been there. It's cold, it's damp, it's early. You're just trying to wish one out there aaaaaaaaaand it didn't even reach the fairway. That's when you know you might be in for a long, long day.

The good news for Choi is he did a hell of a lot better than McIlroy did back in 2019, saving bogey (McIlroy made an 8). The bad news? He went out in eight-over 44 and came home in 37 to post a first-round 81.

Also, as we were writing this, former Open champion Cameron Smith somehow outdid both McIlroy and Choi:

St. Andrews seems like ages ago.

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Is it the British Open or the Open Championship? The name of the final men’s major of the golf season is a subject of continued discussion. The event’s official name, as explained in this op-ed by former R&A chairman Ian Pattinson, is the Open Championship. But since many United States golf fans continue to refer to it as the British Open, and search news around the event accordingly, Golf Digest continues to utilize both names in its coverage.