By Kieran CANNING

Home favourite Tommy Fleetwood joined South African amateur Christo Lamprecht at the top of the leaderboard on five under par on the opening day of the 151st British Open at Hoylake.

Lamprecht, 22, shone on his debut at the majors after earning his place by winning the Amateur Championship last month.

Lamprecht, who stands 6 feet 8 inches (2.03 metres) tall, used his long levers to great effect around the Royal Liverpool course on Thursday, averaging the longest driving distance among the early starters.

"I earned my spot to be here. I think the way I played today I earned to be on the top of the leaderboard, as of now," said Lamprecht.

Fleetwood, who hails from Southport, just 30 miles (48 kilometres) from the course, gave his chances of a first major title win a huge boost with a run of three consecutive birdies between the 14th and 16th, to card a 66.

Despite the glorious blue skies on the Wirral coastline, some of the more stellar names in the field struggled.

World number one Scottie Scheffler got off to a flying start with two birdies in the opening four holes.

But the American needed a birdie at the last to move to one under as he started quest to add to his one major win at the 2022 Masters.

Defending champion Cameron Smith finished at one over par after an eventful round that featured four birdies and five bogeys.

Smith and Brooks Koepka appear to pose the biggest threat from the group of players now regularly plying their trade in the Saudi-backed LIV Golf series.

Koepka, who won his fifth major at the PGA Championship in May, is four off the lead after turning around a difficult start with three birdies in the final eight holes.

England's Matthew Jordan hit the first tee shot at 6:35 am local time (0535 GMT) on the course where he is a member.