There are Rolex-branded clocks everywhere you look at the Open Championship. Francesco Molinari and Henrik Stenson took it upon themselves to turn back a few of them.
The two former Champion Golfers of the Year, their combined age registering at 93 years old, carded a collective 5 under on Thursday on a firm Royal Birkdale layout boasting a fittingly vintage color palette.
Molinari birdied four holes coming in before getting up and down at the par-4 18th to post 3-under 67.
Stenson circled three of the final four numbers on his scorecard, capping the first-round 68 with a vintage birdie.
“Time flies, as we know,” said Stenson, now 13 years removed from lifting the Claret Jug at Muirfield. “Sometimes it feels like it was certainly a decade ago. … At least when you hit 5-iron to 6 feet to make it on the last, you probably feel like it wasn’t that long ago.”
Stenson turned 50 back in April. The Hugo Boss shirts don’t fit quite like they used to when Stenson’s biceps would burst out of the sleeves. His hair is decidedly grayer, though there are fewer vowels on his hat – Stenson’s all-black lid Thursday read, “CRNWD,” an avant-garde spelling of Crownwood, the golf course he designed and co-owns in southern Sweden.
One could consider Stenson a part-time player, at least for now. This week marks his first world-ranked start since last year’s Open, where he was T-45. He’s only logged three starts since not renewing with LIV Golf after last season – two senior majors, the Senior PGA (T-47) and U.S. Senior Open (T-11), plus a European Legends event. He has plans to compete in his first Senior Open late this month at Gleneagles.
But once Stenson’s “ankle bracelet” comes off – aka his one-year PGA Tour suspension ends – on Aug. 24, he’s eyeing a run at the PGA Tour Champions playoffs.
“It’s been the longest break I’ve had,” Stenson said. “I think it definitely gives me the opportunity to come back out and be a little bit more motivated and hungry to go again on these last couple of holes of my career.”
2016 Champion Golfer @henrikstenson with a lovely approach on 5 to set up a birdie. pic.twitter.com/9qNAD8LRtK
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 16, 2026
Molinari, 43, has some time before he’s eligible for the 50-and-older circuit. Molinari’s Open victory came in 2018 at Carnoustie, where turf conditions were equally baked to what players are facing this week. He was 15th in the world rankings when he won his only major. Now, he’s No. 243 as he’s back to competing mostly on the DP World Tour, though not regularly as The Open marks only his 10th start in 2026.
His results so far this year: Mixed (a pair of top-6s early, but missed cuts in three of four starts before a T-17 last week at the Scottish).
“Being competitive with these guys, playing obviously less than pretty much everyone else does is the motivation for me and is the challenge for me to try and do that,” Molinari said. “I think I can do it, but I need to go out and prove it.”
Molinari says even during five-week breaks, he’ll still practice nearly every day.
“I still enjoy that part of the game,” he added. “The last few years I didn’t really enjoy some other parts of the job, like the traveling and being away from home and all this stuff.”
While Stenson’s lone blemish came in the form of a double bogey at the par-4 11th, where he missed the green with a gap wedge, Molinari kicked the tires early, bogeying Nos. 1 and 6 after poor approach shots while birdieing Nos. 4 and 5, the former by hooping a 20-footer and the latter after nearly jarring a wedge shot.
Molinari was 1 over for the championship through 10 holes before rattling off birdies at Nos. 11, 12 and then both par-5s on the course, Nos. 14 and 17.
“I was telling myself actually … I remember the last few years always starting quite well, like the first two, three holes here at The Open and then ending up either missing the cut or not having a great week,” said Molinari, whose 67 was just one off the early lead shared by Sungjae Im and Dan Brown. “I just told myself maybe this time it’s going to be better if I bogey the first instead of birdieing it.”
Maybe so, though Molinari adds, “I’ve been around long enough to know this is a long way to go.”
And as one gets older, it gets a lot harder to grip that second hand.
