Shane Lowry entered The Open with four consecutive missed cuts at the tournament.
On Thursday, the Irishman started to put his bad form at the major to rest with a four-under 67 that placed him on top of the leaderboard at the Dunluce Course at Royal Portrush Golf Club.
Lowry currently leads a group of seven players by one shot, while three others are two shots behind at two-under.
Rickie Fowler and Brooks Koepka are among the players on course in red numbers attempting to chase down Lowry from the latter set of tee times.
Tiger Woods, Justin Rose, Jason Day and Dustin Johnson are a part of the afternoon wave of tee times in Northern Ireland, and all of them will try to put Lowry in their sights in a potential climb up the leaderboard.