St. Andrews: Scotland's Paul Lawrie, the last British player to win a home Open, struck the first tee shot to get the 150th anniversary tournament under way at a soggy St Andrews on Thursday.
Before an eager smattering of spectators at 0530GMT and with the rain holding off, the 1999 Open champion found the centre of the first fairway at the Old Course to lead out the 156-man field in the third major of the year.
Torrential rain on Wednesday forced the abandonment of the Champions Challenge four-hole tournament involving a host of former winners but when the early starters flung open their curtains on the opening day they were greeted by flat calm but overcast conditions. Rain is forecast for later. World number one and overwhelming bookies favourite Tiger Woods, twice an Open winner here, starts his bid for a 15th major and fourth Claret Jug at 0809GMT and is sure to be pursued by the biggest galleries of the day with playing partners Justin Rose of Britain and Colombian Camilo Villegas.
Woods won here by handsome margins in 2000 and 2005 but his outing later on Thursday will be his first competitive one in Britain since the spectacular unravelling of his private life last year and subsequent sabbatical from the game. Tom Watson goes out in the following group at 0820, the 60-year-old, five-times winner seeking to repeat the form that saw him go within a whisker of a fairytale win at Turnberry last year before losing a playoff to fellow American Stewart Cink.
Cink tees off at 0742 with Ian Poulter, who features among a clutch of English players including Lee Westwood, Luke Donald, Justin Rose and Paul Casey bidding to end a major drought dating back to Nick Faldo's U.S. Masters victory in 1996.
Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell, who ended a 40-year European lean spell in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach last month, starts at 1253 with compatriots Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke and Irishman Padraig Harrington make up a formidable challenge from across the Irish Sea. World number two Phil Mickelson, who boasts a poor Open record for such a gifted ball shaper, starts at 1320 alongside European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie with the final grouping projected to start at 1521.
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