Tiger takes Route 66
Even though Woods visited three bunkers three more than in the whole of his 2000 triumph he looked so assured and in control of every aspect of his game that you have to believe nobody will touch him over the next three days.
True, he had the best of the weather yesterday and could have problems should the elements cut up this afternoon, but this hugely positive start is just what the 11/4 pre-tournament favourite wanted.
He had finished his day's labour by lunchtime and it was several hours later before the wind finally made its presence felt, while the late finishers also had to contend with heavy rain and significantly cooler temperatures.
For now, Woods is just one ahead of the American-based Australian Mark Hensby, and two clear of a group of eight on four under that includes Retief Goosen, Luke Donald, Jose-Maria Olazabal and the Scottish amateur Eric Ramsay. Graeme McDowell and Paul McGinley were caught out in the worst of the conditions and so were very pleased with rounds of 69 and 70, but Darren Clarke may have irreparably impaired his prospects by three-putting six times to finish in 73.
"I am very happy," Woods glowed.
"Even though I had it going when seven under after 12, I'm very pleased to finish six under and also with the way I played. I don't know if I have the same kind of handle on the Old Course that I did five years ago but I feel I'm playing really well.
"It's a different wind this time. Last time it was off the left. The outward holes are now much tougher so the inward holes are easier. They're two totally different golf courses but I still feel very comfortable out there."
Although there are a host of great golfers close on his heels (Vijay Singh, the man he probably fears more than any is handily placed on 69, although Ernie Els could do no better than 74), this line of talk from Woods should infuse fear and trepidation into his rivals.
He claimed not to have attempted anything very dramatic for that run of seven under through 12.
"I was just trying to place my golf ball where I needed to place it."
He also pointed out that just because he was making birdies didn't mean he was altering his game plan.
Tiger began his assault on the course by making a mockery of predictions that the remodelled par four fourth would crucify the field.
He simply cracked a drive of 350 yards up the fairway, wedged to 20 feet and rolled in the putt.
No big deal. After that there was no stopping him. The 568-yard fifth was reduced to a drive, four iron to 30 feet and two putts. A four-footer dropped at number seven, where his three-wood tee shot caught sand, and having driven the ninth green, he got down in two strokes from 90 feet.
That was the first of four successive gains as Woods holed from eight feet at 10, 15 feet at 11 and eight feet once more at 12.
This was golf of absolutely sublime quality but it all came to an end at 13.
Tiger explained: "I hit a two iron off the tee, tugged it a little bit and caught the bunker known around here as the Coffins. At the 16th, I tried to keep it low, it rode with the wind and ended up in the bunker. I hit three bunkers and played those holes in one over. It's not a good spot to be in, that's for sure, because these faces are obviously very high."
Woods made his par at the treacherous 17th and got one of his dropped shots back at the last where his three-wood drive finished just short of the dreaded Valley of Sin.
Undaunted, he putted through the swale to four feet and holed out for his eighth birdie of the day. 66 is one better than he shot on the first day back in 2000 and he's pleased about that, noting that "there were a couple of Sunday pin positions out there today which surprised us".
He said: "They thought the wind wasn't going to blow so they tucked them a little more."
Asked where his feelings were when the two-minute silence was observed at 12pm, Woods related with no little feeling how relieved he was that somebody very close to him might well have been a victim of the London bombs. His mother.
"My mom was in the building right across the street from where the bomb blew up," said Woods, although not entirely sure which one it was.
"I am very thankful that my mom is still here. It could easily have been very tragic for me personally. She hasn't told me a whole lot. Typical mom ... I asked 'are you okay' and she replied 'yeah, good'. Then she asks 'what are you doing on the course today'. She likes to change the subject real fast.
"She was vacationing in London and touring Europe. I can only imagine what those who lost a loved one or had loved ones hurt might have been going through."
Hensby qualified for the Open last year and controversially declined to cross the Atlantic. He thought better of it this time and must be pleased he did so.
The 34-year-old from Melbourne highlighted his 67 with an eagle two at the ninth where he holed from 20 feet.
"This is my first time on a links course but it's not all that different from what I'm used to," he said.
"I took a bit of stick for not coming last year but I didn't have a passport nor did I know anybody in the White House. I have no expectations for the rest of the week."
