SANDWICH: England’s Justin Rose plays his shot to the 18th green from the first hole during the first round of the British Open Golf Championship at Royal St George’s on Thursday.—AP SANDWICH: The long-awaited return of the British Open got under way under blue skies at Royal St. George’s on Thursday as former champion Louis Oosthuizen shot to the top of the leaderboard with a six under par round of 64. Another previous Open winner Jordan Spieth is just one shot back, alongside fellow American Brian Harman. Richard Bland was given the honour of hitting the opening shot of the 149th Open Championship and the Englishman, who won his first European PGA Tour title this season at the 478th attempt, struck his drive straight down the fairway.