O’Meara’s farewell outing a rather forgettable one

American’s 1998 triumph seems like ages ago after he endures torrid round teeing off in the rain

Former winner Mark O’Meara was given the honour of being first off in what will almost certainly be his final British Open, but the American endured a horrible round of 81 in the rain at Royal Birkdale.

The 60-year-old won at the course on the North-West coast in 1998 and this is his final year of automatic eligibility for the competition.

But when O’Meara dips into his Birkdale memories in years to come, he will surely try to blank out yesterday’s round of eleven over par.

Tournament organisers, the Royal and Ancient golf club (R&A), had honoured O’Meara by making him first to tee off in the opening round, but he drove his first shot out of bounds and had to battle to make a quadruple bogey eight.

“I just got off to such a poor start. When you’re 9-over par through eight holes or whatever I was, you know, it’s very disappointing, to be honest with you, but it’s not the end of the world. I realise kind of where I’m at in my life,” he said.

“For the R&A to give me that privilege at the first tee shot shows the respect for what they have for their Open champions, the respect to know that this was going to be my last Open Championship,” he said.

Despite his disappointing round, O’Meara was still able to reflect positively on his past success. “Look, to have my name on that Claret Jug one time is an amazing thing, especially for a young guy, growing up in Southern California starting the game late. And at 41 to have that dream come true was pretty neat,” he said.

O’Meara’s win at Birkdale in 1998 came just a few weeks after his first and only win in the US Masters in Augusta.