Sandwich, July 18: World number one Tiger Woods of the United States lost the ball off his opening drive to take a triple-bogey seven on the first hole at the British Open at Royal St George's on Thursday (July 17) and trail the early leader Hennie Otto of South Africa by five strokes. The world number one recovered to finish with a two-over-par 73. Otto led in the clubhouse by one from Australian Greg Norman and Davis Love III of the USA after a 3-under round of 68. The 27-year-old Woods showed impressive reserves of patience and determination to battle back and collect four birdies on the difficult Sandwich links made even trickier by early morning rain and increasingly stiff winds. But Woods, who won the championship three years ago, could hardly have made a worse start, pushing his opening drive into thick rough 10 metres off the fairway. Despite the attentions of a group of marshals, caddies and other bystanders, the ball could not be located and he was forced to return to hit three off the tee for a seven which left him third from bottom of the field at the time.


But Woods has not won eight majors from 1997 without patience and determination, and by the 11th hole he had clawed back two shots thanks to birdies at the long fourth and 10th.


A bunkered tee shot at the 12th cost him another shot and two further missed fairways at the next two holes sent him slipping towards the back of the field. Despite this, he holed out for birdies at the 15th and 16th holes before negotiating the last two in par.


Otto, playing in his first Open, set the early clubhouse pace with a three-under-par 68, a near flawless round marred only by dropped shots at the third and last holes. Otto, who had to come through the qualifying event earlier in the week, was in the first group of players which teed off at 0530gmt, the earliest ever start to an Open Championship.


Norman, 48, the last champion at Sandwich 10 years ago, made an eagle and two birdies and dropped just two shots at the long 14th and the last where he missed a short putt for par to finish on 2-under.


The Australian, who also won the Open in 1986, has hardly played or practised all year after undergoing shoulder surgery and he needed pain-killing injections to compete here.


Love produced one of the most solid rounds of the day, with his only bogey at the last hole following birdies at the 1st, 4th and 17th. Swede Fredrik Jacobson shared fourth place on 1-under with South Korean S.K. Ho.


Five-times Open champion Tom Watson, 53, rolled back the years despite playing in the worst of conditions for a level 71 marred by a double-bogey-bogey finish.


Defending champion Ernie Els of South Africa was ten shots off the lead after a disappointing 7-over par round of 78 and is in danger of missing the halfway cut. Els failed to make a birdie, dropping shots at seven of the first 14 holes. His round was his worst ever in 13 Open championships.


Colin Montgomerie of Scotland was forced to quit on the eighth hole because of a freak hand injury sustained when he fell over in the kitchen of the house he is renting. Montgomerie was 4-over at the time and left the course in a buggy.


Collated completed first round scores from the 132nd British Open golf championship at the par-71, 7,106-yard, Royal St George Course on Thursday (British unless stated, a-denotes amateur): 68 Hennie Otto (South Africa) 69 Davis Love III (U.S.), Greg Norman (Australia) 70 S.K.Ho (South Korea), Fredrik Jacobson (Sweden) 71 Fred Couples (U.S.), Gary Evans, Mathias Gronberg (Sweden), Charles Howell III (U.S.), Thomas Levet (France), Scott McCarron (U.S.), Tom Watson (U.S.) 72 Ben Curtis (U.S.), Jesper Parnevik (Sweden), John Rollins (U.S.), Nobuhitu Sato (Japan), Katsuyoshi Tomori (Japan) 73 Robert Allenby (Australia), Thomas Bjorn (Denmark), Steve Flesch (U.S.), Mark Foster, Sergio Garcia (Spain), Retief Goosen (South Africa), Skip Kendall (U.S.), Peter Lonard (Australia), Sandy Lyle, David Lynn, Gary Murphy(Ireland), Mark O'Meara (U.S.), Craig Parry (Australia), Marco Ruiz (Paraguay), Tiger Woods (U.S.), Ian Woosnam 74 Chad Campbell (U.S.), Kenneth Ferrie, Alastair Forsyth, Jim Furyk (U.S.), Soren Kjeldsen (Denmark), Stephen Leaney (Australia), Justin Leonard (U.S.), Len Mattiace (U.S.), Phil Mickelson (U.S.), Jarrod Moseley (Australia), Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain), Corey Pavin (U.S.), Kenny Perry (U.S.), Nick Price (Zimbabwe), Phillip Price, Andrew Raitt, Chris Smith (U.S.), Mike Weir (Canada), a-Gary Wolstenholme 75 Stuart Appleby (Australia), Angel Cabrera (Argentina), Stewart Cink (U.S.), Darren Clarke, John Daly (U.S.), Fred Funk (U.S.), Padraig Harrington (Ireland), Jonathan Kaye (U.S.), Eduardo Romero (Argentina), Vijay Singh (Fiji), Anthony Wall



Play suspended because of bad light with six players still to complete their rounds: Andrew Coltart +1 after 17 holes Matthew Goggin (Australia) +3 17 Adam Mednick (Sweden) +4 17 Adam Le Vesconte (Australia) +10 17 Anthony Sproston +11 17 Charles Challen +14 17


Bureau Report