Ordained monk tunes out the noise to soar into contention as McIlroy mania engulfs The Open Championship

(CNN) — Rain lashed from above, North Atlantic winds pummeled from the side, and thousands of excited, umbrella-wielding shapes swirled amongst it all, yet the man at the eye of the storm remained entirely unflustered.

Because even as the clamour for home hero Rory McIlroy poured across a rainswept Open Championship first round in Northern Ireland on Thursday, Thai golfer Sadom Kaewkanjana was better equipped than most to block out the noise.

The world No. 262 opened with a superb three-under 68 to race into early contention at Royal Portrush, crediting the lessons he learned when, in 2023, he stepped away from the professional game to live as a Buddhist monk and practice meditation.

“Stay in the present, stay in my mind,” Kaewkanjana, 27, told reporters on his return to the clubhouse.

“It’s made me focus, forget everything outside, just live in the present. I really enjoy being a monk.”

Having turned professional in 2018, Kaewkanjana had notched two wins on the Asian Tour and finished tied-11th in the 2022 Open – the best result by a Thai golfer in the major’s 153-year history – when he decided to take a break.

Kaewkanjana, who had peaked at world No. 75, chose to become ordained “to return the greatest merit and repay my parents”, he said in 2023, according to the PGA Tour.

“I was cut off from the rest of the world when I was ordained,” he added. “That made me feel more calm. I was able to concentrate more, which will help me improve my game of golf.”

Victory at the Kolon Korea Open in May stamped his ticket for a fourth major appearance that Kaewkanjana has grabbed with both hands. A stunning eagle putt from just inside 24-feet at the par-four 5th hole proved the highlight of a superb round amid testing conditions, with a bogey at the 11th the only blemish on his scorecard.

The ultimate goal is to crack the top 50 of the world rankings and to fulfil a lifelong dream of playing the Masters, but for now, the present is more than enough.

“I’m very excited to watch the top players play in the same conditions, same golf course, and learn how to play like them,” he added Thursday.

McIlroy’s mixed bag

Kaewkanjana is just one shot shy of a five-strong leading group comprised of England’s Matt Fitzpatrick, Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen, China’s Haotong Li, South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout and American Harris English.

It leaves McIlroy with work to do if he is to clinch a fairytale win, as the Northern Irishman saw an excellent start undone by a frustrating back nine en route to a one-under 70 start.

Given the hordes of fans that rose at the crack of dawn and weathered the elements just to get a glimpse of the five-time major champion during a practice round earlier this week, the bedlam that awaited the boy from Holywood on Thursday should have come as no surprise.

Long-awaited glory at the Masters in April only ratcheted up the excitement for the 36-year-old’s homecoming, with McIlroy – spotted wearing his green jacket around the site before tee off – believing that winning at the venue just 60 miles from his birthplace could well be more emotional than that triumph at Augusta National three months ago.

The world No. 2 insisted he was ready to embrace the atmosphere after being “taken aback” by the adoration he received when he slid to a tearful missed cut at the same venue in 2019, but even Kaewkanjana may have struggled to process the thunderous din that greeted him at the first tee.

“I feel the support of an entire country out there, which is a wonderful position to be in,” McIlroy told reporters after his round.

“But at the same time, you don’t want to let them down. So there’s that little bit of added pressure … (But) I felt like I dealt with it really well today.”

The subsequent drive was better than the horror effort that led to the quadruple-bogey and subsequent tailspin of six years ago, but not by a huge amount. After finding the edge of the rough on the left, McIlroy began his search for a second Open title with a bogey.

Three birdies across the next six holes ratcheted up the noise of the thousands-strong mass that followed him, the volume matched only by the sound of the collective groan that ensued when a narrowly missed putt compounded McIlroy to his second consecutive bogey at the 12th.

Another dropped shot two holes later sent alarm bells ringing but McIlroy steadied the ship well, notching pars and a birdie at the penultimate hole to bring a positive end to a round that he began almost six hours prior.

“I’m surprised 4-under is leading,” he remarked. “I thought someone might have gone out there and shot six or seven (under) today.

“Only three back with 54 holes to go, I’m really happy with where I am.”

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler made an ominously strong start to his pursuit of a first Claret Jug, shooting 68 to join Kaewkanjana, as well as English duo Matthew Jordan and Tyrrell Hatton at three-under par.

English stays afloat despite adversity

As for English, the 35-year-old is playing without his caddie, Eric Larson, for the second straight tournament.

Larson has not been able to obtain a new Electronic Travel Authority visa for travel to the United Kingdom, a regulation that now applies to Americans, according to the Associated Press.

Per the AP, Larson previously said he wasn’t aware he needed an ETA visa until last month’s US Open. After filling out the form, he was denied due to rules that state an applicant who has been convicted of a criminal offense in the UK or overseas for which they served 12 months or more in prison.

According to the report, Larson pleaded guilty to sending cocaine to friends and spent 10 years and three months in prison and was released from a halfway house in June 2006.

English’s putting coach, Ramon Bescansa, has filled in this week in Northern Ireland.

Despite commending Bescansa, English called it “tough” to play without Larson.

“Every player or caddie has their different cadence of how they like things,” English told reporters after Thursday’s round. “Luckily for Ramon, he’s been working with me for so long and watched me play, watched me hit balls, so he kind of knows what I like, and I feel like we kind of got that right out of the gate.

“…But it is different. You get so used to… Eric has been caddying for me for eight, nine years now and you get so used to having that one guy of how he does everything. From little stuff – where he puts the Sharpies and markers and he always has tees in his pocket and just little stuff. You get used to that, but Ramon did awesome today.”

Friday’s second round is scheduled to begin at 6:35 a.m. local time (01:35 a.m. ET), with McIlroy and Scheffler set to head out at 10:09 a.m. (5:09 a.m. ET) and 3:10 p.m. (10:10 a.m. ET) respectively.

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