Lyle lifts Muirfield crowd

Sandy Lyle, without a win for a decade, made a flying start to the 131st Open championship at Muirfield this morning.

Lyle, in danger of having no playing rights on any tour for next season, birdied two of the first three holes to claim the early lead.

The 1985 Open champion, in the second match out at 7:11am, narrowly missed a 10 foot birdie putt on the opening hole, but made life much easier on himself by hitting his approach to the second to 12 inches.

That was not the first birdie of the championship - South Africa’s James Kingston had beaten him to it minutes earlier on the same hole - but it was swiftly followed by another on the third from 10 feet.

Sadly for the large gallery that had given Lyle a rousing reception on the first tee, his first bogey of the day came on the par three fourth when he failed to get up and down from right of the green.

The early lead was now held by American Stewart Cink who opened with two birdies and then left his attempt for a hat-trick from 25 feet on the third, a foot short of the hole.

Wolverhampton’s Peter Baker had earlier struck the first shot of the championship at 7am, and immediately became the first victim of the daunting opening hole, described by Tom Watson as the hardest on the Open rotation.

The former Ryder Cup player’s tee shot on the 448-yard par four found the knee-high rough to the right of the narrow fairway. From there he was only able to hack the ball back back across the fairway, his third missed the green but he then chipped to within a foot of the hole to salvage a bogey.

Five-time champion Watson then made sure the hole lived up to his billing by running up a double bogey. The 51-year-old’s drive found heavy rough, his second moved it only two yards, but even that was far enough to force him to search for it before he could hack it onto the fairway.

He was still behind playing partner Steve Elkington’s drive, but found the green with his fourth and two putted for a six.

In the group behind, Australian Ian Stanley, who topped the European Seniors Tour Order of Merit last year, then scuffed his opening drive only 60 yards, but salvaged a bogey, if not his pride.

Ian Woosnam had been determined not to fall victim to the two-shot penalty for having an extra club in his bag that ruined his chances of glory in the final round last year, caddie Lee Adelly and rules official Richard Muckart exchanging smiles and knowing looks as they stood over the Welshman’s bag on the first tee.

Woosnam was one over par after five holes, while Lee Westwood, eighth in the world coming into the Open last year but now down to 102nd, three-putted the first but birdied the second from very close range to get back to level par.

Most eyes were set to turn to Tiger Woods however, the world number one teeing off at 9:01am in pursuit of the third leg of the Grand Slam.