Phil Mickelson will know another round of 63 will be next to impossible on day two, but the American will target a solid round in order to stay clear of the rest of the field as Day 2 comes calling at the Open Championship.

Mickelson was irresistible in his opening round of 8 under, even if the American was left wondering what might have been after missing a birdie putt on the final hole, which would have given him the wonderful record of being the first golfer to shoot a 62 in a major.

"This one's going to stay with me for a while because of the historical element of the Major Championships," Mickelson said on missing the putt. "There's a lot of guys that have shot 63, but nobody has shot that 62.

"That would have been really something special. I'm just not going to have opportunities like that to do that. So to have that putt lip out, that's going to sting for a while."

However, Mickelson will want to overcome that disappointment and look forward to playing in the second round, where he will go in with a three-shot lead. That lead might be cut down, of course, by the time he walks onto the course for his second round, but if the 46-year-old plays like he did on Thursday, he will be ever closer to lifting the British Open 2016.

His closest competition after round one are Martin Kaymer and Keegan Bradley, while Rory McIlroy, one of the pre-tournament favourites, is six shots adrift. Jordan Spieth has even more work to do to catchup with Mickelson after an even par 71 in the opening round, but if anyone can, it certainly is the American.

Spieth struggled with his putting on Thursday at Royal Troon, and the 22-year-old will know his short game needs to improve if he is to challenge for the Claret Jug over the next three days.

"That's a question I almost never get asked so, because of that, I'm not going to think about it much," Spieth said when asked about his short game struggled in the opening round. "I very much improved tee to green. I struck the ball tremendously well. It just seemed like it just didn't want to go in the hole once I got on the green."

Anirban Lahiri, the lone Indian in the field, shot a two under par in the opening round, and the 29-year-old will hope for more of the same, if not better, on Friday.

Where to Watch Live

Day 1 of The Open Championship

Day 2 of the British Open 2016 will begin at 6.35 a.m. BST (11.05 a.m. IST, 1.35 a.m. ET). Live Streaming and TV options below. The tee times are HERE.

India: No live TV coverage.

UK: TV: Sky Sports 1. Live Streaming: Watch Sky Sports and Sky Go.

US: TV: NBC and Golf channel. Live Streaming: Golf Channel online and NBC Live Extra.

Australia: TV: Fox Sports. Live Streaming: Foxtel and Fox Sports online.