It helped that Turnberry laid down, a rare day along the Ayrshire coast with barely a breeze. Fifty players broke par.

Woods was not among them.

He had as many birdies as clubs thrown in disgust - three - and was still in the mix until a poor chip led to bogey on the 15th. He missed his target by some 40 feet on the 16th, where is ball bounded into the burn. He had to scramble for bogey and finished with a 71.

Woods was seven shots behind, his largest first-round deficit ever in the British Open.

"I certainly made a few mistakes out there," Woods said. "Hopefully, tomorrow I can play a little better."

Harrington, who had missed his last five cuts until winning the Irish PGA last week against a weak field, had a 69. He is trying to become the first player in more than 50 years to win the claret jug three straight times.

Watson sure isn't feeling his age at the British Open, where he is a five-time champion and stalwart at links golf. Neither are 52-year-old Mark O'Meara and 49-year-old Mark Calcavecchia, former champions who shot 67.

Even John Daly took advantage, opening with a 68. Greg Norman, who had the 54-hole lead at Royal Birkdale last year in a remarkable revival, faded quickly at Turnberry, where he won the British Open in 1986. He didn't make a birdie until the 17th hole and shot 77.

Norman ceded the stage to Watson, who teased his Scottish following with the crazy notion he could hoist the silver trophy again. The oldest British Open champion was Old Tom Morris in 1867 at age 46, and Julius Boros is the oldest winner of any major, capturing the 1968 PGA Championship when he was 48.

Watson won four of his claret jugs in Scotland, none more memorable than at Turnberry.

"I feel inspired playing here," he said. "A lot of it has to do with just being in the presence here at Turnberry again, just a culmination of a lot of things that have gone on already. I feel that I'm playing well enough to win the golf tournament. It doesn't feel a whole lot out of the ordinary from 32 years ago, except that I don't have the confidence in my putting as I had 32 years ago.

"But again," he said, flashing that famous grin, "a few of them might go in."

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