THE OPEN RELATED STORIES The Open Home Page The Open Scores Round 4: Tiger Woods seals two shot victory Round 4: Emotional Tiger Woods thanks late father Round 4: Players give Hoylake top marks Round 4: Ernie Els continues impressive Open run Round 4: Marius Thorp wins Silver Medal Round 4: Sergio Garcia takes positives from Open Round 4: Chris DiMarco consoled by second place Round 4: Tiger Woods edges ahead of field Round 3: Sergio Garcia in sight of first major title Round 3: Ernie Els happy to still be in the mix Round 3: Putting problems keep Woods back Round 3: Chris DiMarco counts on experience Round 2: Woods and Els set for showdown Round 2: Singh & Monty amongst cut casualties Round 2: Ernie Els relishes being in contention Round 2: David Duval frustrated again Round 2: Phil Mickelson well off the pace Round 2: Poor showing by Ryder Cup hopefuls Round 1: Woods makes move with eagle on 18th Round 1: Clarke to take break to care for wife Round 1: Seve Ballesteros happy with opening 74 Round 1: Ernie Els finds putting touch again Round 1: Garcia amongst early front runners Leading contenders for the British Open Tiger Woods ready for Open defence Geoff Ogilvy enjoying life as a champion Weather set fair at Hoylake Phil Mickelson in confident mood Tiger Woods & Nick Faldo fued simmers Trevor Immelman pulls out of Open Players expecting to score low at Hoylake Ben Curtis has sights on second Open title Montgomerie still optimistic about breaking duck Rest of the World catching the Americans Hoylake ready for a new chapter Europeans seeking a Major turnaround Trevor Immelman celebrates birth of first child Tiger Woods is bookmakers favourite Hot, dry and fast Hoylake awaits players Nick Faldo & Tiger Woods row diffused Hoylake a mystery to the whole field John Daly plays "The Cavern" Retief Goosen not confident heading into Open John Senden joins record number of Australians Woods starts Open defence with Faldo The Open Preview Course Guide: Hoylake - Royal Liverpool 2006 European Tour Schedule GOLF TODAY TOP STORIES Fisher coasts to seven shot win Kim claims the title with closing 65 Lee secures narrow victory Romero holds on to claim second senior title International players dominating the LPGA Drugs testing begins this week GREAT GIFTS FOR GOLFERS Golf Breaks to Portugal & Ireland Half Price Golf Vouchers InstructaCard - your portable pro! The Father & Son Golf Ch'ship Golf Insurance

Sergio Garcia amongst early front runners

Sergio Garcia, inspired by the rare luxury of having his family close by, placed himself among the early front-runners with a four-under-par 68 in the British Open first round on Thursday.

"When you have your family around it is always nice," Garcia told reporters. "Unfortunately, in the last five or six years we haven't been able to get everybody together."

The 26-year-old Spaniard is staying in a house with his father Victor - who is also is coach - his mother Consuelo, his sister Mar and his brother Victor.

"We come back to my house, my mum cooks some beautiful dinners and we play cards and just enjoy the time with each other. That is something I haven't been able to have for quite a while and I'll really enjoy this week."

Garcia, seeking his first major victory, picked up five birdies and one bogey in his round.

"I will take four-under-par in a major," said the world number nine. "It does not matter if it is playing easy or tough, I will take it every time."

Garcia plays most of his golf in the U.S. but is in the middle of a three-week stay in Europe. He said the overnight and early morning rain had taken the fire out of a course baked by the sun during practice.

"The rain has definitely softened up the course," he said. "It made hitting the fairways a little bit easier and of course stopping on the greens was much easier than it has been the last three days.

"It made the course play a little bit longer but at least you had a bit more control. Even hitting the ball out of the rough, you were still able to stop it on the green nicely."