Tiger Woods happy with opening round

It wasn't the way he planned to start and it wasn't the grandstand finish he had in mind either but Tiger Woods pronounced himself "very pleased" with his first round in the British Open Thursday.

The world number one, hoping to make golfing history as the first man to win all four majors in a season, has already sealed victories in the U.S. Masters and U.S. Open.

The British Open is the third leg of the sport's holy grail and the pressure has never weighed more heavily on the 26-year-old American's shoulders.

An early tee-time kept the crowds following him at Muirfield down to manageable proportions Thursday morning but there was still one too many photographer around.

He snapped his camera just as Woods was preparing to unleash his opening drive and arguably the greatest player the world has ever seen was forced to back off before clouting a two iron into thick rough 20 yards right of the fairway.

The ball was invisible unless you stood right over it but somehow -- after another altercation with a photographer -- Woods lifted it out with a 60-degree lofted wedge, pitched his next shot to around 10 feet and holed out for a remarkable par four.

It proved one of the few times in his opening one-under-par 70, two adrift of the early lead, that Woods's putter performed with its usual deadly efficiency.

He missed no less than seven times for birdie from 15 or feet or less by a matter of inches and only -- for Woods -- routine birdies at the par five fifth and ninth holes ensured he turned at one under par after three-putting the sixth for bogey.

Woods drove into rough at the 10th but a wedge to seven feet gave him a birdie at the next to hit straight back.

Somehow, the course on a now sunny and near windless day yielded no further birdies to him and at the 449-yard par four 18th he looked in danger of dropping another shot when his long iron approach ran through the green.

His chip from the back fringe fell 10 feet short but, as at the first, Woods's nerve held and his 70th and final stroke of the day rolled dead center into the cup.

It was not vintage Woods by any means but, as he said afterwards, you can't win a tournament on day one but only lose it.

"I was very pleased with the way I played today. I had six or seven putts today for birdie which I hit beautifully and they just didn't roll in," he said.

"It wasn't like I yipped it and they didn't go in. The difficulty was the pace of the greens -- they were much slower than we are used to.

"But the (organizing) committee have to do that and protect the course because if the wind blows you could lose control of the greens.

"Overall, though, I'm satisfied. There won't be many scores that much better than that today because it's tough out there. I've said before and I'll say it now -- if you can go around here under par on all four days you'll be in a position to win Sunday."

Woods acknowledged that his playing partners Shigeki Maruyama of Japan and England's Justin Rose had performed "beautifully" to negotiate the course in two shots less than him and share the early lead.

But all three, including the 21-year-old Rose, have been around long enough to know there is still a very long way to go before the famous Claret Jug is handed over Sunday evening.

After a potentially hazardous opening day, Woods has tucked himself among the leading pack. For a man chasing his ninth major and second Open title in three years, that was mission accomplished.

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