Canadians struggle out of the gate at The Open

The first round of The Open Championship has not been an easy one for the Canadians thus far.

Corey Conners, Taylor Pendrith and Mackenzie Hughes all drew early tee times Thursday and largely struggled to rounds above par at a rainy Royal Portrush. 

Conners, a native of Listowel, Ont., was the best of the three, firing a 3-over 74 with four bogeys and one birdie on the day. Three of Conners' bogeys came on the front-nine before he largely steadied himself on the back. He sat in a tie for 108th at the conclusion of his round. 

Matt Fitzpatrick, Jacob Skov Olesen and Haotong Li held the early clubhouse lead at 4-under Thursday morning with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler one back at 3-under.

Pendrith, from Richmond Hill, Ont., carded a four-over 75 while Dundas, Ont.'s Mackenzie Hughes struggled to an 8-over 79. 

Pendrith began his round with a double-bogey and also made bogey on two of the next three holes, putting him at 4-over through four. He got one back with a birdie on the fifth hole but was unable to dig out of the hole any further, making two bogeys and one birdie the rest of the way. He sat in a tie for 95th Thursday morning. 

Hughes found himself in the red after making birdie on the par 4 second hole, but ended up making 10 bogeys on the day to put him in a tie for 116th. Brian Newman and K.J. Choi (10-over) were the only players with higher scores as of early Thursday morning.

Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C. was the fourth Canadian in the field this week in Northern Ireland. He drew a mid-afternoon tee time and was 2-over through his first three holes.

Watch weekend coverage of the Open Championship starting LIVE Saturday at 4:35am ET/1:35pm PT on TSN+ with full network coverage beginning at 7am ET/4am PT.