No Country Dominates Day One of the Open Championship

The Open Championship is considered the world championship of golf, and for good reason.  It has the best global representation of any tournament in the majors.  That is especially represented in the leaderboard on day one of any Open. 

Looking back at the day one leaders or co-leaders in the Opens from the 2000s tells the tale very well.  Nine countries are represented as first round top dog in the last decade.  The United States leads the way with four leaders, though Tiger Woods did so just once.  In fact, one of South Africa's two first round leaders was Ernie Els, who led after the opening round of the 2000 Open at St. Andrews.

It's likely that Rory McIlroy will lead alone after day one today, but Northern Ireland has had a share of the lead twice after the first rounds of this decade's Opens.  They were done by a single man: US Open champion Graeme McDowell.

Here's the full list:

1. USA - 4 (Mediate, Toms, Waldorf, Woods)
2. Northern Ireland - 2 (Graeme McDowell)
3. South Africa - 2 (Hennie Otto, Els)
4. Spain - 2 (Garcia, MA Jimenez)
5. Australia (Allenby)
6. England (Casey)
7. France (Levet)
8. Sweden (Petterson)
9. Scotland (Montgomerie)