Montgomerie off to fast start with 65

Colin Montgomerie fired a six-under-par 65 to take a three-shot lead into the clubhouse in Thursday's first round of the British Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in northwest England.

The 38-year-old Scot followed a front-nine 30 with a back side that included long birdie putts at the 10th and 18th. The 65 matched his low round in the Open and was his best-ever opening score in the championship.

"I haven't got off to a good start in these Opens before," said Montgomerie, who is still in search of his first win in a major. "I've always tried to play catch up in these things and it never quite works, so it's nice to get off to a good start."

Defending champion Tiger Woods got off to a good start with a 15-foot birdie putt at the first, but gave the stroke back at the fourth after finding a bunker. He wound up in seven more of the sod-walled sand pits in round one.

"A couple of them actually I tried to put them in there on purpose because I felt that was going to be an easier shot than playing out of the rough," explained Woods, who closed on a high with a terrific par save out of a bunker at the 18th for an even-par 71.

He didn't land in one of the 112 bunkers over 72 holes last year en route to his commanding eight-shot triumph at the Old Course at St. Andrews.

After sinking a five-foot birdie at the 13th, Woods knocked his tee shot into terrible rough at 14. He did well to get his third shot within six feet of the cup but missed the par putt to fall to one-over.

Woods took advantage of a drive that made the fairway, hitting his approach to four feet at 16 for birdie to return to even on the day.

"When you're playing a major championship you just need to get it around, just somehow get in the clubhouse without hurting yourself," said Woods, who is trying to break out of a funk that has seen him finish outside the top-10 in three straight starts for the first time since 1998. "Everyone is going to make mistakes around this golf course."

Woods sprayed a number of his drives into the right rough Thursday -- with both woods and irons. He hit eight of 14 fairways and just eight of 18 greens.

The 25-year-old Woods is chasing his seventh major after capturing his second Masters title in April. A successful title defense this week would make him the first back-to-back British Open champ since Tom Watson in 1982-83.

Brad Faxon, the early leader for a time, posted a three-under 68 for second place. A birdie at 17 took him to four-under but he landed in a bunker at the last and barely missed a 20-footer to save par.

Faxon was later joined by Chris DiMarco, who leaped on the scene by taking the halfway lead at this year's Masters, and Finland's Mikko Ilonen, the 2000 British Amateur champion.

David Duval, Australia's Stuart Appleby, Swede Jesper Parnevik and two- time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal of Spain were among the players in with a two-under 69.

Parnevik, one of the later finishers at minus-two, enjoyed a birdie-eagle- birdie stretch on the front nine Thursday.

Mark O'Meara, the 1998 British Open winner at Royal Birkdale, shot 70 to finish alongside Phil Mickelson, Fiji's Vijay Singh, Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke, Sergio Garcia of Spain and English amateur David Dixon.

Mickelson's scorecard reflected the up-and-down season he's had thus far. He followed a birdie at the second with three straight bogeys, then vaulted into red figures with consecutive eagles at the sixth and seventh. His inward nine featured three bogeys and two birdies.

Two-time U.S. Open titlist Ernie Els, who hasn't competed in some time due to a bad back, stood with Woods, Fred Couples, Germany's Bernhard Langer and Michael Campbell of New Zealand at level par.

Monty started with birdies at the first two holes. He bogeyed the fifth hole but chipped in from behind the green for eagle at the short par-five sixth, then birdied the two holes leading into the turn before making it three in a row by rolling in a 35-footer at No. 10.

The par-four 14th could have been the beginning of a disastrous finish for Montgomerie. It was a bad hole for Monty's playing partner, Couples, who took four swings to extract his ball from a bunker and walked off with a seven.

Montgomerie recovered from a three-putt bogey at 14 with big par saves over the next three holes. He got a putt to fall in the side door at 15, turned an awkward stab into a 10-foot putt at 16, then used the entire edge of the cup for his seven-foot par at the 17th.

The gallery roared its support when the Scot drained a 40-foot birdie at the home hole.

"The crowds are behind me, which is a huge, huge bonus," said Montgomerie, who also had the gallery behind him when he earned his first win of the year on the European Tour three weeks ago at the Irish Open.

Montgomerie's best finish in the Open was a tie for eighth at Turnberry in 1994. He shot 65 in the third round that year.

The burly Scot has actually had better luck in the U.S. Open, an event that has seen him finish in the top-10 four times, including a loss to Els in a playoff in 1994 at Oakmont.

Jeff Maggert scored the rarest of birds when his six-iron second shot to the 494-yard sixth found the cup for a double-eagle two.

His "albatross" came from 200 yards out. Maggert's ball bounced on the front of the green and rolled the final 30 feet to move him from one-under to four-under par.

Maggert's inward half was weighed down with a pair of double-bogeys, however, and he ended the day at one-over-par 72.

Other notables included: at two-over, Davis Love III and Lee Westwood; at three-over, U.S. Open champ Retief Goosen, 1997 British Open winner Justin Leonard and five-time British Open winner Tom Watson; at four-over, three- time Open champion Nick Faldo and Tom Lehman, the winner of the last British Open at Royal Lytham.

Gary Player, who captured the last of his three British Open titles at Royal Lytham in 1974, is making his 46th appearance in the championship. He shot 77, as did Jim Furyk, who was two-under through 10 holes but suffered a 10 at the par-five 11th.

Furyk, who had back-to-back fourth place finishes in this event in 1997-98, declared his tee shot at 11 unplayable then drove into a fairway bunker.

He tried to escape the trap with his fourth shot, but his ball caught the bunker's high lip and it bounced back and struck him, costing him two strokes. Furyk chipped out to the fairway with his seventh stroke, found the green with his eighth and two-putted for quintuple-bogey.

Seve Ballesteros struggled to a seven-over 78. The swashbuckling Spaniard notched two of his three British Opens at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.

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