Welcome moisture allows large pack to better par in first round

~ Graeme McDowell broke the course record with a 66, and 67 players shot under par.

HOYLAKE, England -- A little rain took the fire and fear out of Royal Liverpool. Still intact was the strange nature of the British Open, such as the peculiar path Tiger Woods took toward the top of the leaderboard Thursday.

He started by missing a par putt from 30 inches and finished by making an eagle putt from 25 feet, giving him a 5-under 67 to leave him one shot behind Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland.

Along the way, Woods took two shots to escape a pot bunker, had to bend a shot around a signpost after marshals tried in vain to twist it loose, and hit the fairway the one time he decided to hit driver. That was the 16th hole, and the ball landed in the 17th fairway.

"You can make birdies out there," Woods said, showing that in a myriad of ways. "And, obviously, guys are doing it."

McDowell made six of them without losing a shot, and his 66 broke by one shot the course record set by Roberto De Vicenzo in 1967. Then again, that was the last time the British Open came to these forgotten links south of the Mersey River.

And as tidy as his round was, even McDowell had to endure a bizarre moment at the British Open.

He was in a pub Wednesday night when a local lad recognized him, asked for his autograph, then gave him a swing tip.

"He said, 'You get it pretty laid off at the top, don't you?' And I said, 'Yeah, I guess I do.' He said, 'Get a bit of work done on that, will you?' "McDowell said. "I was kind of joking with the guys, if I shoot 66, I guess I'll be wanting to see that guy on the range Friday morning."

The biggest surprise of all was the change to a crusty course that had caused consternation early in the week. It had been so brown and brittle that the Royal & Ancient asked that two fire engines be allowed inside the gates in case the links caught fire.

Instead, rain showed up overnight and caused a 30-minute delay in the morning because of lingering thunder. It hardly flooded the century-old course, although it didn't take long to notice the difference.

"Nobody expected the course to be like this," Jim Furyk said after his 68. "It's just a day where you need to post a good number and keep up with everyone else. The biggest change I started seeing was when I fixed a ball mark. I knew the scores would be good then."

And they were.

For those concerned that Royal Liverpool could not hold its own against the best players and their titanium toys, the best anyone could muster in relatively benign conditions was McDowell's 66, the same score that has led after one round at the last two Opens.

It was the 67 rounds under par -- 32 of them in the 60s -- that got everyone's attention.

Since the PGA Tour began keeping records in relation to par in 1956, the highest number of sub-par scores in the first round of the British Open was 59 at St. Andrews in 1995. No other major has had so many low scores in the first round.

"If it hadn't rained, it would have been unbelievable for four days," Fred Couples said after a 70.

Greg Owen of England, the hard-luck runner-up at Bay Hill, was among four other players who joined Woods at 67. The baker's dozen at 68 included Ernie Els, Mike Weir, Adam Scott and Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman.

Phil Mickelson, trying to put his U.S. Open collapse behind him, soared to the top of the leaderboard before cooling over the final eight holes, missing two greens in spots he knew were forbidden to take bogeys. He finished at 69.

"I've just got to execute better," he said.

Els figured scores might have been lower if players were not so cautious about the first round.

"You don't want to shoot yourself out of it the first day, so you're not taking as many chances," Els said. "It's not the hardest course we've ever played because of the weather. But there's enough trouble out there where it makes you really think on every hole."

Not all the names atop the leaderboard were familiar, another tradition at the British Open.

One of them belonged to Anthony Wall, the son of a London cab driver whose only European tour victory came in South Africa. He made two eagles on his way to a 67 and didn't see anything surprising about being in contention at only his second major.

"No reason why not," he said. "I have two legs and two arms. I played some good golf. You need the luck, that's the main thing. And here I am."

Perhaps the craziest round belonged to Mark Hensby, one of 23 Aussies in the field. He hit a 2-iron out-of-bounds on the third hole and took triple bogey. He rebounded with nine birdies the rest of the way and joined the crowd at 68.

McDowell shot into the lead with three straight birdies, none more unlikely than holing a bunker shot on the par-3 ninth. He had to settle for a birdie on the par-5 16th after hitting 4-iron to 15 feet, then lost a chance for birdie on the par-5 18th when his tee shot found the rough. Still, seeing his name atop the gold-and-black leaderboard behind the 18th green was sweet.

"I just want to be up there on Sunday and enjoy myself coming down the last hole," McDowell said.

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RESULTS

British Open

Thursday; At Royal Liverpool Golf Club Course, Hoylake, England; Purse: $7.35 million; Yardage: 7,258; Par: 72 (35-37)

(x-amateur)

First Round

Graeme McDowell 32-34 -- 66 -6

Greg Owen 33-34 -- 67 -5

Anthony Wall 33-34 -- 67 -5

Miguel Angel JimZnez 33-34 -- 67 -5

Keiichiro Fukabori 33-34 -- 67 -5

Tiger Woods 34-33 -- 67 -5

Marcus Fraser 33-35 -- 68 -4

SK Ho 32-36 -- 68 -4

Mikko Ilonen 33-35 -- 68 -4

Mark Hensby 34-34 -- 68 -4

Sergio Garcia 32-36 -- 68 -4

Mike Weir 34-34 -- 68 -4

Ernie Els 34-34 -- 68 -4

Jim Furyk 33-35 -- 68 -4

Tom Lehman 33-35 -- 68 -4

Carl Pettersson 37-31 -- 68 -4

Adam Scott 33-35 -- 68 -4

Ben Crane 34-34 -- 68 -4

Brett Rumford 32-36 -- 68 -4

Niclas Fasth 34-35 -- 69 -3

Lee Westwood 34-35 -- 69 -3

Rod Pampling 36-33 -- 69 -3

Robert Allenby 34-35 -- 69 -3

Phil Mickelson 32-37 -- 69 -3

Darren Clarke 36-33 -- 69 -3

Bart Bryant 34-35 -- 69 -3

Sean O'Hair 32-37 -- 69 -3

Lee Slattery 33-36 -- 69 -3

Fred Funk 36-33 -- 69 -3

Rory Sabbatini 34-35 -- 69 -3

Robert Rock 33-36 -- 69 -3

Brandt Jobe 32-37 -- 69 -3

John Senden 34-36 -- 70 -2

Bradley Dredge 36-34 -- 70 -2

Fred Couples 35-35 -- 70 -2

Scott Verplank 35-35 -- 70 -2

Vijay Singh 36-34 -- 70 -2

Nick O'Hern 37-33 -- 70 -2

Andres Romero 35-35 -- 70 -2

Robert Karlsson 35-35 -- 70 -2

Michael Campbell 34-36 -- 70 -2

Chris DiMarco 35-35 -- 70 -2

Aaron Baddeley 32-38 -- 70 -2

Chad Campbell 35-35 -- 70 -2

Stephen Ames 37-33 -- 70 -2

David Duval 35-35 -- 70 -2

Retief Goosen 33-37 -- 70 -2

Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano 36-34 -- 70 -2

Simon Khan 33-37 -- 70 -2

Steve Elkington 34-37 -- 71 -1

Angel Cabrera 36-35 -- 71 -1

Mark Calcavecchia 33-38 -- 71 -1

Paul Broadhurst 36-35 -- 71 -1

Tom Pernice 34-37 -- 71 -1

Ssren Kjeldsen 37-34 -- 71 -1

Adam Frayne 36-35 -- 71 -1

Thaworn Wiratchant 33-38 -- 71 -1

Rich Beem 34-37 -- 71 -1

Mark O'Meara 34-37 -- 71 -1

x-Marius Thorp 34-37 -- 71 -1

Richard Green 35-36 -- 71 -1

Peter Lonard 36-35 -- 71 -1

Geoff Ogilvy 35-36 -- 71 -1

Paul McGinley 34-37 -- 71 -1

Jeff Sluman 34-37 -- 71 -1

Markus Brier 37-34 -- 71 -1

Marco Ruiz 34-37 -- 71 -1

Jerry Kelly 36-36 -- 72 E

Billy Andrade 36-36 -- 72 E

KJ Choi 37-35 -- 72 E

Paul Casey 37-35 -- 72 E

Todd Hamilton 34-38 -- 72 E

John Daly 34-38 -- 72 E

Shaun Micheel 34-38 -- 72 E

Michael Wright 33-39 -- 72 E

Shiv Kapur 35-37 -- 72 E

Vaughn Taylor 37-35 -- 72 E

Thomas Aiken 35-37 -- 72 E

Andrew Marshall 37-35 -- 72 E

John Bickerton 37-35 -- 72 E

Lucas Glover 36-36 -- 72 E

Henrik Stenson 37-35 -- 72 E

x-Julien Guerrier 36-36 -- 72 E

Hideto Tanihara 33-39 -- 72 E

Andrew Buckle 37-35 -- 72 E

Thomas Bjsrn 36-36 -- 72 E

Tom Watson 36-36 -- 72 E

Tim Clark 34-38 -- 72 E

Stewart Cink 36-36 -- 72 E

Simon Wakefield 36-36 -- 72 E

Bradley Hughes 36-36 -- 72 E

Peter Hedblom 36-37 -- 73 + 1

Ben Curtis 35-38 -- 73 + 1

x-Edoardo Molinari 38-35 -- 73 + 1

Zach Johnson 34-39 -- 73 + 1

Stephen Dodd 38-35 -- 73 + 1

Kenny Perry 38-35 -- 73 + 1

Colin Montgomerie 36-37 -- 73 + 1

Arron Oberholser 36-37 -- 73 + 1

Yasuharu Imano 38-35 -- 73 + 1

Jim Payne 35-38 -- 73 + 1

Adam Bland 36-37 -- 73 + 1

Scott Drummond 36-37 -- 73 + 1

Sandy Lyle 35-38 -- 73 + 1

J.J. Henry 34-39 -- 73 + 1

JosZ Maria Olaz‡bal 37-36 -- 73 + 1

Hunter Mahan 36-37 -- 73 + 1

Luke Donald 37-37 -- 74 + 2

David Howell 34-40 -- 74 + 2

Bernhard Langer 38-36 -- 74 + 2

Stuart Appleby 35-39 -- 74 + 2

Seve Ballesteros 36-38 -- 74 + 2

Phillip Price 38-36 -- 74 + 2

J.B. Holmes 37-37 -- 74 + 2

Ben Bunny 36-38 -- 74 + 2

Simon Dyson 36-38 -- 74 + 2

Charl Schwartzel 36-38 -- 74 + 2

Jarrod Lyle 36-38 -- 74 + 2

Ted Purdy 36-38 -- 74 + 2

Nick Dougherty 37-37 -- 74 + 2

Shingo Katayama 37-37 -- 74 + 2

Brett Wetterich 36-38 -- 74 + 2

Bo Van Pelt 35-39 -- 74 + 2

Notable

Padraig Harrington 37-38 -- 75 + 3

Ian Poulter 34-41 -- 75 + 3

Davis Love III 37-38 -- 75 + 3

Nick Faldo 40-37 -- 77 + 4

PGA/B.C. Open

Thursday; At Turning Stone Resort, Atunyote Golf Club

Verona, N.Y.; Purse: $3 million; Yardage: 7,315; Par: 72

First Round

Mark Brooks 32-33 -- 65 -7

Jason Bohn 32-34 -- 66 -6

Harrison Frazar 32-34 -- 66 -6

Omar Uresti 33-34 -- 67 -5

Matt Gogel 33-34 -- 67 -5

Daisuke Maruyama 32-35 -- 67 -5

Scott Gutschewski 35-32 -- 67 -5

Gabriel Hjertstedt 33-34 -- 67 -5

Scott Gump 35-32 -- 67 -5

Ryuji Imada 31-36 -- 67 -5

John Rollins 34-33 -- 67 -5

B.J. Staten 35-32 -- 67 -5

Jason Schultz 33-34 -- 67 -5

Daniel Chopra 36-32 -- 68 -4

Patrick Sheehan 35-33 -- 68 -4

Arjun Atwal 33-35 -- 68 -4

Shigeki Maruyama 32-36 -- 68 -4

Michael Clark II 35-33 -- 68 -4

Mike Hulbert 33-35 -- 68 -4

Mathias Gronberg 33-35 -- 68 -4

Chip Beck 33-35 -- 68 -4

Michael Bradley 34-34 -- 68 -4