Hong Kong's Taichi Kho shot a 12-over-par round of 83 on his debut at the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool in England on Thursday, joining many of the world's best players in struggling on the course's final hole.

Kho was coming off his first birdie of the round and drove it well enough on the 18th that he could go for the green.

And then the troubles began.

Kho left his first shot in the bunker left of the green. And then another. He finally blasted out sideways into high grass, only for his next shot to go back into the same bunker. Kho blasted that one out sideways toward the native grass. His eighth shot found the green, and he two-putted from 10 feet.

That added up to a 10, giving him a round-high 83.

Kho had found the outward nine challenging on his first taste of a golf Major, turning at eight over par in part thanks to a double-bogey five on the sixth hole, widely considered the toughest on the course.

However he seemed to have steadied the ship on the back nine, hitting par on the first seven holes before his birdie on the 17th, a hole widely expected to prove difficult.

The 22-year-old qualified for the tournament by winning the World City Championship on his home course at Fanling in March, on only his third appearance on the Asian Tour.

Kho wasn't along in struggling on the par-five finishing hole, which features a rare internal out-of-bounds running the entire right side and five bunkers surrounding the front of the green. It brought some of the world's best players to their knees – even former champion Rory McIlroy.

The tournament favourite's first round ended with the improbable sight of him standing with his right leg inside a bunker and his left knee on the downward slope beside it, before he splashed out to rescue par in his level-par 71. Moments earlier, up against the face of the bunker, he'd failed to hit the ball out sideways.

Justin Thomas could only dream of making par.

The two-time major champion drove out-of-bounds and later sent his ball from one greenside bunker to another, before blasting out through the green and winding up making nine for an 11-over 82 – his highest round in a major.

The 18th was where Rickie Fowler ruined his good round with a triple bogey, giving him a 72. Ryan Fox ended his round of 78 with a triple, too, the same score at the hole made by Phil Mickelson and Jorge Campillo.

England's Tommy Fleetwood, South African amateur Christo Lamprecht and Argentine Emiliano Grillo shot first rounds of 66 to lead the Open after day one. (Additional reporting by AP, Reuters)
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Last updated: 2023-07-21 HKT 05:54