The Open 2025: Harrington highlight, 'Mr Handsome' and Mickelson on Muirfield

Harrington highlight makes early rise worthwhile

It was worth the 4am alarm call for Padraig Harrington and also the fans who were up early, too, to watch him hit the opening shot.

The two-time winner found the fairway - just - with his 3-iron then hit a majestic blow with the same club and rolled in a 15-footer for a birdie.

Harrington described it as a “serious buzz” and rightly so, delighting the early risers outside the ropes in the process.

“I hyped up the tee shot as much as I could so when I got there today, it wasn't too bad,” he admitted. “I was decently comfortable when I got on the tee. I got a little emotional when I was clapped on and then I calmed down.”

‘Mr Handsome’ revealed - and it’s not Adam Scott

Adam Scott has long been reckoned to be the most handsome man in golf but not any more, according to AI.

Combining the likes of ChatGPT, Gemini, Bing AI and attractivenesstest.com, a prediction for sports website Sportscasting was formulated by artificial intelligence to rank the best-looking golfers at Royal Portrush from the top 100 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

With a rating of 9.4 out of ten, Swede Ludvig Aberg is ‘Mr Handsome’ this week ahead of Ryder Cup team-mates Viktor Hovland (9.1) and Tommy Fleetwood (8.6).

Scott, with a 7.5 rating, was ranked seventh, just ahead of Justin Thomas, last year’s joint runner-up.

Phil Mickelson would ‘love’ Muirfield return

Phil Mickelson is hoping he’ll get the chance to return to Muirfield and relive his memories from winning there in 2013.

The American didn’t want to get into the “politics” of the East Lothian venue waiting to get the nod from The R&A to stage the event again.

But he admitted: “The great thing about the Masters is every year we get to go back and relive those memories if you've won it.

“I've won The Open, but I haven't had the opportunity to go back and relive those memories and compete there again. As players, we all enjoy that. So I would love it if we do get back there.”

Unfortunate choice of words from reformed bike gang member

It probably wouldn’t have raised a single eyebrow coming from any other player in the field but not Ryan Peake.

“I just got beat up out there,” said the 31-year-old Australian at the end of his round, probably regretting his choice of words.

Peake, after all, had just completed a five-year prison sentence for serious assault when the Claret Jug event was last staged at this venue in 2019.

The one-time bike gang member who is now a reformed character, he secured his spot in the field this week by winning the New Zealand Open earlier this year.