How the great Tiger Woods was tamed by the Old Course in a six-hour first round at the 150th Open

The galleries were six, seven, sometimes even eight or nine deep so, for thousands of those golf fans following Tiger Woods around the Old Course, the only possible vantage point to view the living legend in action was through the screen of one of hundreds of phone cameras that were trained on him every time he addressed the ball.

What they saw was not vintage Woods, though. Far from it. But if Woods has lost some of his threat, he has lost none of his appeal.

The man who has won two of his Open Championships at the home of golf and based this year’s schedule around ensuring he was able to compete at the historic 150th Open on his favourite course, is used to the crowds, of course. They were there when he debuted here in 1995 and again when he lifted the Claret Jug in 2000 and 2005.

But no-one is used to seeing him struggle so badly on the hallowed links. Especially in a round that dragged on for over six hours.

“It is probably the highest score I could have shot. Didn't get off to a great start. Hit a good tee shot down one, ended up right in the middle of a fresh divot. And I hit a good shot. Wind gusts hit it and ended up in the burn.

“In a round sometimes it just goes that way. It just goes one way and it never seems to come back. No matter how hard you fight. And then I compounded problems with my bad speed on the greens. I hit the ball in the correct spots a couple times, left myself some good lag putts, the correct angles and I messed those up.

“So when I had opportunities to make a few putts, I missed them, and just never got anything going.”

Even after his injuries and the long absences from tournament golf as he tries to manage a battered and temperamental body, there was some positivity in his pre-event words,