Open Championship diary: Matt Cooper and Dave Tindall's Thursday update from Royal Birkdale

The rattler

Matt Cooper

There’s a TV series begging to be made about the stretch of linksland from Liverpool to Southport – and the railway line that runs through it.

The rattler makes it’s way past West Lancs, Formby, Southport & Ainsdale, and Hillside on it way to this week’s Open venue.

The frequency of wonderful golf land prompts fun interactions. Travellers from around the world are in awe, kids get prematurely excited that they’ve reached the Open venue, and locals are a mixture of pride in their region, and fatigue that normally quiet trains are heaving with giddy golfers.

They were busy for the first day of action but here’s a little tip for you if you’re travelling from the south – get on the first carriage because you’ll be first to the stairs and therefore first out the station and through the ticket check.

Don’t get left out again

Dave Tindall

Will we get a left-handed golfer winning The Open this week? The small contingent of southpaws have done well in recent years. Brian Harman blitzed the field at Royal Liverpool the last time the tournament visited the Lancashire coast and Phil Mickelson hoisted the claret jug in 2013, taking the title at Muirfield a week after he’d won the Scottish Open at Castle Stuart.

Bob Charles became the first left-hander to win any men's major championship when he came through a 36-hole playoff (different times) over Phil Rodgers at another nearby Open venue in 1963, Royal Lytham.

I’ll be honest, I’ve not quite got it right with Opens and lefties. In 2013 I was on a high after tipping Phil Mickelson at 20s to win the Scottish Open but then decided there was no way he could win the Open a week later. So I didn’t reinvest. At the same price. When he’d already shown he could win the week before a major and then land the major itself (2006 Bellsouth and Masters).

But that pales into comparison when we go back to 2023. Trying to be clever, trying to be shrewd, trying to get a little value on a side market, I backed Brian Harman to be top-left hander at Royal Liverpool. I guess it won. But imagine how I felt knowing that Matt Cooper had backed Harman at 310 on Betfair to win the event itself which he did by six shots. Six! As that week went on, Matt’s smile got wider as my stomach churned. Pretty sure Matt bought the drinks though, so...

This year I’m not messing about. I’ve nailed my colours firmly to Robert MacIntyre to win the thing. After scooping a bit of each-way cash off him in Scotland last week, I decided it was absolutely time for Oban’s finest to land a first major. And what a great start. A pair of opening birdies and a first-round three-under 67. That’ll do nicely.

There’s actually one unexpected twist to this year’s southpaw discussion and, appropriately enough, it came out of left field. While taking some photos around the course in Wednesday’s practice round, I noticed Joaquin Niemann signing autographs by the clubhouse. Something didn’t quite look right. And then I twigged. Niemann was writing with his left hand. That’s a highly unusual combination. Apparently only 5% of right-handed golfers would throw left-handed.

To avoid the Def Con One outcome of him winning and me not backing him despite my discovery, I had a few quid on the Chilean. A terrible bet. As I write this he’s six-over after 16 and has no chance. Once again, left-handers at the Open have got me in a muddle.

First

Dave Tindall

I have very little to brag about when it comes to my own golf game. I don’t hit it very far, my irons are poor and I never hole putts. I manage six rounds per annum in a good year (it’s one so far in 2026, if you’re counting). Unlike Rory McIlroy, if I shouted “I’m so bad at golf” there would be nods of recognition and perhaps even a small smattering of applause for such a brave and honest declaration.

But even terrible golfers have their moments and mine came here at Royal Birkdale. The first hole is a monster and the European Tour reminded us of that in a tweet ahead of the 2017 Open there. “In the last 20 Opens, the first at Royal Birkdale has been the toughest opening hole on the rota. (4.49 average).” When Padraig Harrington won at Birkdale in 2008 he bogeyed it the first day and then ground out pars over the next three rounds.

Me? With no warm up, a handicap of 22 and windy conditions, it didn’t look good when I walked onto the first tee for my first and only ever round at Birkdale. To quote Simon the IT computer geek from The Office: “I could see the people going, 'Oh my god! If that guy hits off now, he's definitely dead.’” But... I smoked a drive, pinged a fairway wood to 25 feet, holed the birdie putt and said “What were you worried about?”

So how did this year’s Open field fare at Birkdale’s 1st hole in round one? To be honest it would have made a better story if it had once again played as the toughest hole but, checking the stats, the 449-yard opener is only playing as the 7th hardest today. But Padraig Harrington, the 2008 winner here, and Harry Hall both doubled it and birdies were few and far between. So, regardless, I’ll claim the win and still dine out on it.

Dirty hands

Matt Cooper

My Thursday got off to a lovely start with a little wander up the first to watch the early action.

I then returned for a late breakfast ahead of covering the action for the Guardian live commentary. After tipping my leftovers in the bin, I returned to my desk where my reading glasses were nowhere to be found.

I checked everywhere and decided there was only one option: that I had tipped them into the rubbish bin. There was no option but to ask if I could take a closer look.

The lad in charge of the bins opened it up and I plunged in, heedless of the revolting mess of leftover breakfast.

“What have you lost?” a passing voice asked.

“My dignity,” I muttered, my fingers dripping with baked bean juice, my soul resembling an unwanted piece of bacon.

The glasses, alas, were not there so I spent the next two hours peering awkwardly at the screen, a pulse in my forehead suggesting that I’d have a head ache by the end of play.

And then the riddle was solved.

My glasses had been taken in error and were now on the opposite side of the course, with the CEO of one of golf’s largest corporations.

The glasses were saved, my dignity has known better days.