Baldwin dozed through England loss before hitting Open’s first tee shot

SOUTHPORT, July 16 : Local lad Matthew Baldwin led a posse of English players with early starts at the British Open on Thursday hoping to lift the mood after the nation’s World Cup heartache.Baldwin, playing at his home club, struck the first tee shot at Royal Birkdale and went on to card a two-over 72.


Sport

Baldwin dozed through England loss before hitting Open’s first tee shot

Baldwin dozed through England loss before hitting Open's first tee shot

Jul 16, 2026; Southport, ENG; Matthew Baldwin lines up a putt on the eighth green during the first round of The Open Championship golf tournament at Royal Birkdale. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Baldwin dozed through England loss before hitting Open's first tee shot

Jul 16, 2026; Southport, ENG; Matthew Baldwin plays a shot on hole 10 during the first round of The Open Championship golf tournament at Royal Birkdale. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Read a summary of this article on FAST.

Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.

Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST

FAST

SOUTHPORT, July 16 : Local lad Matthew Baldwin led a posse of English players with early starts at the British Open on Thursday hoping to lift the mood after the nation’s World Cup heartache.

Baldwin, playing at his home club, struck the first tee shot at Royal Birkdale and went on to card a two-over 72.

The 40-year-old admitted he had hardly slept the previous night, dozing through England’s 2-1 defeat by Argentina in the semi-finals of the World Cup before getting up in the small hours to prepare for his opening round starting at 0535GMT.

“I didn’t watch it. I had it on quiet in bed, dozing. I remember waking up at 55 minutes and saw that England had scored and fell back asleep,” he told reporters.

Guess Word

Guess Word
Crack the word, one row at a time


Buzzword

Buzzword
Create words using the given letters


Mini Sudoku

Mini Sudoku
Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser


Mini Crossword

Mini Crossword
Small grid, big challenge


Word Search

Word Search
Spot as many words as you can


Show More


Show Less

“Then I woke up again at probably midnight and my wife told me they had lost.”

So, England’s wait for a first World Cup title since 1966 goes on but home fans will hope that an Englishman can raise the mood by winning the Open and becoming the first player from England to do so since Nick Faldo in 1992.

Daniel Brown, who led after the first round at Royal Troon in 2024 ranked 272nd in the world, was the leading Englishman on the early leaderboard at four under.

Tommy Fleetwood, like Baldwin, grew up near Birkdale and he attracted large crowds for his opening round alongside Spain’s former world number one Jon Rahm and 2017 champion at Royal Birkdale Jordan Spieth.

Fleetwood’s Ryder Cup team mate Tyrrell Hatton was also out early alongside world number one and reigning champion Scottie Scheffler.

Source: Reuters

Sign up for our newsletters

Get our pick of top stories and thought-provoking articles in your inbox

Inbox

Get the CNA app

Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories

Get WhatsApp alerts

Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app

Whatsapp

Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.

Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST

FAST

About The Author

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *