McDowell made a late charge through the field

There was a large group in the clubhouse on four under, including Sergio Garcia, Ernie Els and Mike Weir.

Phil Mickelson was a further shot back, but Colin Montgomerie finished on one over while Luke Donald and compatriot David Howell closed on two over.

Woods eagled the 18th to leapfrog into contention after a patchy round.

Highlights: The Open first round

By Tom Fordyce and Ben Dirs

1953: Retief Goosen has an eagle putt on 18 but leaves it well short, and then misses his birdie putt to boot. Tom Watson finishes with a par to end level at 72.

1945: Aussie Brett Rumford birdies the 13th to move to four under as the crowds begin to drift away from Hoylake.

1920: There you go - Tiger strikes after scrabbling through the patchiest of rounds and nails his 30-foot eagle putt. He ends on a five-under 67, just one shot off the lead. What can he do if he actually starts driving properly? Faldo misses his birdie put to close with 77, five over.

1910: Tiger fires a four-iron onto the 18th green to set up a possible eagle chance. He and Faldo get a huge cheer from what's left of the galleries as they stride down the fairway.

1904: Keiichiro Fukabori birdies the last to move to five under - with the help of four birdies and two bogies over the last six holes.

1855: Faldo's round falls apart with a double-bogey six on 17. He's back out to five over. Tiger pars and starts to eye up a birdie to finish on the 18th.

1849: It's a miracle - Woods's tee-shot on 17 actually finds the fairway. Scott finishes with a par to stay four under.

1837: Guess what - a brilliant second from Tiger and two rock-solid putts give him a birdie, and he moves to three under. Faldo gets in on the act with a birdie of his own.

1830: With shadows lengthening, Woods smashes his drive on 16 way over the bunkers on the left. He's really taking a good look at the whole of this Hoylake course - he hasn't found a fairway off the tee for hours.

"The weather is amazing. The course is dry so I will put my cigar stubs in water before I throw them away." Miguel Angel Jimenez

1820: Adam Scott's charge comes to a grinding halt with a bogey on 17. His putt is only fractionally short, but it probably costs him any chance of taking an outright lead today.

1808: It's like Woods has decided to show what a great player he is around the green by deliberately making a mess of his approaches. In thick rough off the 14th green, he somehow manages to get up and down in two to save par - two brilliant shots after an absolute stinker.

"I was having a beer last night when some local lad decided to give me some swing advice. If he's listening, I'll see him on the practice range at 7am tomorrow." Open leader Graeme McDowell

1800: McDowell has a putt from 20 feet for an unexpected birdie on the last after a fine approach. It glides past but the par putt is straightforward and he finishes with a 66 - six birdies and not a single bogey. There's a happy smile on his face as he shakes hands with his caddie.

1752: McDowell plays it safe from the rough and just lofts onto the fairway. Tiger continues with the now-familiar pattern - woeful tee-shot, brilliant recovery - and takes par.

1745: Tiger continues to drive like a late-era Seve. On the 13th he slices again and gets the luckiest of bounces to skip past the gaping mouth of a bunker.

1740: A brilliant approach from Woods on the 12th gives him another birdie chance, but he misses to the right and takes par. Meanwhile McDowell's tee-shot on 18 goes into the thick rough on the left.

1733: McDowell pars the 17th after his 30-foot birdie putt comes up short. What a contrast between his beautifully-judged golf and the miscalculation he's made with those lime green trousers.

1725: Dougherty, looking very hot and bothered, goes back to three over with a birdie at 16.

1715: McDowell has a 20-foot eagle putt for a two-shot lead. It bumps and trickles to within a foot and then stops - but the birdie putt goes in, and he has the lead.

1710: Tiger's tee shot at 11 slices off to the right. His ball comes to rest just behind a signpost, and the fun starts. He has a word with the officials and three lackeys attempt to pull the post out of the ground. After a protracted struggle, they fail. Tiger plays his shot anyway and finds the green. In goes the birdie putt. Once again he gets a decent result despite a wayward drive.

1705: Tiger holds his putt for par - a Houdini-like escape after that first bunker shot.

1702: Tiger, firing to the green on the 10th, plugs his ball in the bunker. He's got a shocking lie, and his first attempt to hack out hits the lip and rolls back to his feet. Being Tiger, he then dinks his next attempt to within five feet of the pin. He climbs out the back of the bunker like a man with a bag of coal across his shoulders.

1656: McDowell has a birdie chance on 15 to take an outright lead. The pace is perfect but it rolls three inches to the right. As you were at the top.

1651: Katayama, clearly well-hydrated, pops off to a small grey shed for a courtesy break.

1649: Tiger finally goes into the red with a birdie on the ninth. He manages to look both pleased and angry at the same time - a reflection of his stuttering start to his title defence.

1640: Nick Faldo's travails continue as he pushes his putt wide at the eighth and slips back to five over. Ouch. Tiger Woods continues grimly on and is still level.

"I've never played golf this firm before, even though I grew up on links." Local boy Lee Slattery, who carded a 69

1635: Denmark's Thomas Bjorn sinks a monster at the par-three sixth to move to one under. World number four Retief Goosen pops one in at five to also move to one under.

1632: Aaron Baddeley and a referee spend a cosy five minutes crouched down in the wicked little bunker next to the 10th green. It looks like they're building castles on Blackpool beach, but it's actually a conflab about Baddeley's lie. The Aussie manages to flop his ball out out just short of the green.

1630: The Aussies are massing at the top of the leaderboard. Another young one, Adam Scott, sinks a hefty putt at the eighth to move to two under.

1622: Aussie Aaron Baddeley, three under after nine, is in jovial mood and finds time for a chat with a cameraman on a cheeky little upright cart on a the trip down the 10th fairway. He then sticks his approach into the deepest bunker on the course. That'll teach him for mucking about.

1621: Sorry to report that Nick Faldo dumps his approach at seven in the thick rough to the right of the green. The Englishman's aspect is growing grimmer and grimmer.

1618: Ulster's Graeme McDowell is, as many predicted someone might do, smashing up the course. He makes another birdie at 11 to join Greg Owen and Anthony Wall atop the leaderboard on five under.

1613: Nick Faldo is, to be quite honest, having a bit of a nightmare. Wanting to impress young buck Tiger, he bogeys another at the par-three six to drop back to four over. Woods, who has the air of a Spaghetti Western outlaw who just won't be stopped, nails another par putt.

1611: Ireland's Paul McGinley, a nuggety little player, holes a monster at the fifth and is three under after five. It's good to see that infectious grin spreading across his chops.

1608: Miguel Angel Jimenez makes it three birdies in a row with a 10-footer at 10. The Spaniard is now three under. Playing partner Michael Campbell stays at one under after missing a short one.

1606: Six-time major winner Nick Faldo, who has barely played all year, is showing all the tell-tale signs of rustiness. His tee shot at six comes up well short and he follows up with a fluffed chip. Not pretty.

1604: Englishman Lee Slattery makes par at the 18th, the ball dragging its feet but eventually deciding to pop in the hole, and finishes with a three-under-par 69.

1558: A grim looking Tiger Woods makes his first birdie of the day at the fifth, but playing partner Nick Faldo bogeys to fall back to three over. Will Tiger be having a little chuckle inside? If so, he's hiding it well.

1556: Ulster's Graeme McDowell just misses a long eagle putt at 10 but taps in to move to four under. Chris Di Marco, who was three under after four, triple-bogeys the par-four seventh to drop back to level par.

1554: America's Brandt Jobe makes a 10-footer at the 10th to move to four under, one off the lead.

1552: Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell holes out from a greenside bunker at the ninth and is out in 32.

1548: Michael Campbell covers the front nine in 34 while pony-tailed Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez is out in 33 courtesy of a sizable putt on nine. Both could be in the mix come Sunday evening.

1545: Aussie youngster Aaron Baddeley has got off to a flyer, making birdie at the first and eagle at the par-five fifth, which is getting a good kicking from the field on the opening day.

1542: New Zealand's Michael Campbell, US Open champion in 2005, makes birdie at eight to move back to one under.

1531:Woods can't get going. He misses another birdie putt by two inches on the fourth green, and leans on his putter for a while afterwards. Ruminations complete, he watches Faldo and Shingo Katayama take par. Katayama, the third member of the Tiger/ Faldo group, is wearing a straw cowboy hat. It's not a convincing look.

1524:Wall, to his enormous relief, gets up and down from the black hole of that bunker in two to stay in a share of the lead. Sweden's Johan Edfors, winner of last week's Scottish Open, drives off the first tee. Facially he looks a little like the lead singer of the Wannadies, but his tight white trousers and snug orange top are very Parnevik.

1523: Tiger, the fingers of his glove hanging out of his back pocket like a rooster's tail, clips his birdie putt to the left of the hole. He stares at it for a while in bemusement.

1519: Wall is wobbling under the pressure of leading the Open. He belts his tee-shot off the 18th into the rough on the left and then clips his second into the cavernous bunker short of the green.

1512: Tiger's bright orange polo shirt already has large wet patches spreading across the front, as if someone had nudged him as he took a swig from a pint of water. Despite the mess, he finds the green with his second shot on the third to set up a great birdie chance.

1505: Wall, after less than 20 minutes breathing the rareified air at the top of the leaderboard, misses a 10-footer on the 17th to drop back to five under. It's even worse for Faldo - he double-bogeys the 2nd after an extended tour of Hoylake bunkers.

1500: Faldo finds the bunker with his drive off the second and is forced to chip out sideways. You can't blame him for being rusty - this is his first tournament in three months. It's also his 31st Open.

1452: While the world watches Tiger, England's Anthony Wall quietly eagles the 16th to snatch a clear lead at six under.

1448: Tiger has a birdie putt of about 15 feet from very edge of the green, but skims the hole and has what looks like an easy eight-footer for par. To gasps from the gallery, it lips out. Faldo, having secured his own par putt, does well not to smile.

1441: First blood to Faldo - Tiger hooks his iron into the rough while Faldo finds the fairway. This could be spicy.

1437: Would you believe it - Tiger and Faldo shake hands on the first tee. Faldo then pats his own face, as if to say that he would have preferred a peck on the cheek. There is a needless announcement on the PA about the banning of mobile phones on the course, which draws a self-righteous round of applause from the gallery.

1435: Mickelson nails his birdie putt to finish on three under, alongside playing partner Darren Clarke. Woods and Faldo are on their way to the first tee.

1429: Mickelson is fighting for par on 18. His approach hits the temporary stand and he takes a drop into thick rough, allowing him to reach for one of the five wedges he reputedly has in his bag today.

1421: Miguel Angel Jiminez, ginger ponytail tucked up under his cap, pars the second. No cigar from him so far, but it's early days.

"When Faldo left for the practice putting green he stopped to chat to Ernie Els and wife and David Leadbetter and seemed very relaxed. Tiger followed with his game face on, not speaking to anyone." Matt Slater, BBC Sport at Hoylake

1414: Mickelson, looking for a birdie to finish, drives straight down the middle of the 18th fairway. Temperatures continue to rise. We're now at the point where monkeys in zoos are given iced lollies by their keepers.

"I didn't hit the ball hard enough. Time to hit the practice green." Colin Montgomerie

1410: Disco Poulter shimmers his way to two over par with three to play. The splashes of sequins on his trousers dance in the sunlight, temporarily blinding his caddie.

1404: Facing a face-high wall of turf, Monty somehow flips out to within eight feet of the pin, only to drift his putt past the hole. He wanders off the the clubhouse, one over par.

1400: Monty takes out his fairway wood on 18 and belts his approach from 250 yards straight into a bunker.

1352: Tiger Woods and Nick Faldo are on the practice range. Despite being in adjacent bays, they have yet to exchange words, or even a look. They're due to tee off in about 45 minutes. Random Hoylake fact for you: last time the Open was held here, the Beatles were just about to release Sergeant Pepper. Not that anyone cares about 4,000 holes in Blackburn Lancashire today - it's the 18 holes of Hoylake we're concerned with right now.

1348: Daly's drive on 18 almost decapitates a spectator. He's on level par, and for him it's been a remarkably steady round - just two birdies and two bogeys.

1341: Nick Dougherty, the Paul Way of his generation, gets his round underway with a steady approach to the 1st. He's gone for a pink polo shirt/slacks combo, with his spiky hair tufting out the top of his white sun visor like cactus in a pot.

1334: Tom Lehman swings his giant broom-handled putter and secures par on the 13th. Never quite worked out why broom-handled putters are considered acceptable by the R&A - it's like Fifa suddenly legalising giant gloves for goalkeepers.

"If you're coming along, remember not to wear leather-soled shoes, and don't lock your dog in the car." Peter Alliss, BBC commentator

1325: In the battle of the big men on 16, both John Daly and Monty take pars. Neither looks that happy. Monty has only missed five fairways, but he's missed five greens. Daly is wearing a cavernous red shirt that has white collars and a slight shine - much like the Nottingham Forest kit from 1992-3, as worn by Roy Keane and Steve Chettle.

1322: David Howell has a shocker on the last, missing a two-foot putt for a double-bogey seven. That puts him on 74, two over par.

1318: Back to Monty, now on the 16th fairway. He slices his approach into the rough, and his broad shoulders slump a little more.

"I couldn't sleep last night - I kept waking up in pools of sweat. " Current leader Greg Owen

1308: Greg Owen goes clear at the top with a birdie on 18 - his fourth in the last six holes. Seve's odds for the tournament are 500-1, the most generous of any player's in the 156-strong field. Best not mention that, Baldomero.

Woods is the biggest attraction at Royal Liverpool

1303: Seve has his 15-year-old son Baldomero caddying for him. No sign of any teenage tantrums so far, but let's wait and see - no self-respecting lad could be expected to lug his old man's clubs all over the place all day without some sort of hormone-induced strop.

"Ja - I'll take that on the first day." Ernie Els, joint leader

1258: Els finishes with par on 18 to stay in the nine-man log-jam at four under. He'll be happy with that - right in the mix despite never hitting his very best form. Still not a single cloud in the sky above Hoylake. Seals have been spotted gambolling in the surf. Is this the Wirral or Monterey?

1248: Lee Westwood finishes with a 69. He takes off his cap to reveal classic Hat-Hair - a sweaty, flattened style reminiscent of a Lego figure's.

1241: Mike Weir has a putt for the lead on 18, but it marches past. He finishes on 68 to join the clubhouse scrum on four under.

1235: A mention for wildman swinger Seve Ballesteros - he's on level par after 10, which is pretty good for a man with his issues off the tee. No glimpse yet of Seve's famous tattoo - which is of himself, winning the 1984 Open. Honestly.

1225: Els has a birdie putt on 17 for the outright lead - but he fizzes it 12 feet past and now has a tricky putt for par. Decked out in quintessential golfing attire - blue polo shirt, sober slacks, black cap - he squints at the hole before rolling his putt home.

1215: Mickelson wobbles in a ten-footer on the 10th to go to four under and a share of the lead. Meanwhile Hensby finishes with par to card a 68. Freddie Couples, fresh from the VIP box at Wimbledon, just misses the green-side bunker on the 18th. His grey bushy mullet would do credit to a mature squirrel.

1207: Els is three under with three to play, and with a couple of par fives to come he'll fancy a share of that lead. On the sartorial front, you have to wonder why none of these players is wearing shorts today. If it's good enough for the caddies, why not the players?

1200: Disaster for John Daly - he smashes his drive on the 10th so wide that he may well need his passport to get it back. Meanwhile Mickelson pars the 9th and winks at the gallery.

1153: Mickelson birdies the 8th and is starting to enjoy himself. He's wearing black despite the sun. It's a brave move - even Johnny Cash may have plumped for pastel in these conditions.

"I get some good vibes on this course." Joint clubhouse leader (and amateur champion at Hoylake in 2000) Mikko Ilonen

1150: Darren Clarke, looking like a colonial doctor in all-beige, stays at one over after missing a 20-footer for a birdie on the 8th. Luke Donald is also one over and stands with hands on hips, bemused at his lack of form so far.

1144: Another Aussie, Mark Hensby, has a two-foot putt for a birdie on 15 and eases it home to go into a share of the lead.

"I think there is someone who will shoot six, seven or eight under. Conditions are perfect out there." Joint clubhouse leader Marcus Fraser

1138: Ilonen birdies the last to go to four under. Wearing a bright orange long-sleeved top despite the heat, he is one happy Finn.

1133: Sergio's putting nightmare continues. He misses an easy par putt on the 13th to stay at two under. At the moment he's addressing the ball in the manner of a bare-footed man standing by an angry rattlesnake.

1128: Aussie Marcus Fraser is the clubhouse leader at four under. A first proper mention too from this reporter for Ian Poulter's attire, touched upon by our early man at 1002. Only in the staid world of golf could Poulter's outfit be considered cool. It's so outre that even Liberace would have turned it down as too camp. Geri Halliwell might possibly have considered it for one of the dance scenes in Spiceworld: The Movie, but only briefly.

1121: Monty's in a grump. It could be the sun, it could be his bogie on the 7th, but an unlucky steward cops a look that could melt a face at 50 yards. Monty puts from eight feet for par and marches onwards.

1118: Sergio Garcia has a five-footer for birdie on 13, only to let it dribble wide in horrible fashion. Mickelson, meanwhile, conjures up a bunker shot on the 6th that is so good it defies belief - despite being so close to the bunker wall that he might as well be staring at a six-foot high wall, he chips to within two feet.

1113: Leader SK Ho hacks out of the heavy rough on the 13th and faces a battle for par. The fairways have taken a real battering from the sun and are as brown as parchment. It's giving proceedings quite a 1970s look.

1108: Phil Mickelson strokes home a 10-footer on the 5th for an eagle, and goes to two under. But his tee shot off the 6th finds a bunker, and his smile disappears sharpish.

1100: Colin Montgomerie remains at level par after five holes but Marcus Fraser drops as shot and falls back into the group on three under.

1020: Marcus Fraser birdies the par three 13th to draw level with SK Ho at the top of the leaderboard on four under. Last year the Australian finished tied for 139th place so it seems the bone-hard fairways are suiting his game.

1002: A great welcome for three-time Open champion Seve Ballesteros, who tees off at the first in a group that includes Ian Poulter. The Englishman is sporting a typically dazzling outfit, the highlight of which is a pair of bright red flares more suited to a walk-on part in a remake of cult 70's flick Carwash. Ballesteros looks bemused.

0951: US Masters champion Phil Mickelson and Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke are also under way. Both safely make the fairway just at the first as the temperature starts to noticeably rise on Merseyside.

0946: Luke Donald may be one of BBC pundit Mark James' tips, but he has only made the cut once in seven Open attempts. It doesn't look good for the Englishman at Hoylake either as he is two-over after dropping shots at the third and fifth.

0941: Colin Montgomerie birdies the first with a well-judged six-footer. It puts Monty within two shots of leaders SK Ho and Aussie Marcus Fraser, the latter holing consecutive birdies at nine and 10 to draw level at the top of the leaderboard.

0934: Wales' Bradley Dredge had recorded the first eagle of the tournament on the fifth, but Australian Mark Hensby proved Hoylake was not defenceless with a triple-bogey seven on the third.

0929: Last year's runner-up Colin Montgomerie strokes a smooth three-iron off the first tee to get his 17th Open campaign under way. The Scot was greeted with a huge cheer hoping to inspire him to his first Major victory. Before him, 1995 winner John Daly delighted the crowd by booming a massive trademark drive straight down the middle of the fairway. The third man to go was Australia's 2002 Open runner-up Stuart Appleby. This could be one of the most entertaining groups of the day.

0915: Ernie Els has bounced back from a bogey five at the first hole with back-to-back birdies to join Steve Elkington, Sergio Garcia, Vijay Singh and Italian amateur Edoardo Molinari on one under. This group is now a shot behind the second-placed trio of Marcus Fraser, Mikko Ilonen and Mark Calcavecchia.

0915: Korean SK Ho continues his blistering start with a superb 16-yard birdie putt at the eighth to move three under. The 32-year-old turned pro in 1995 has only played the Open Championship three times before, finishing tied 28th in 2003 and joint 74th in 2004 and 2005.

0910: Former Ryder Cup captain and BBC pundit Mark James predicts a European win at Hoylake: "Padraig Harrington and Luke Donald at 25-1 look like a real bargain."

0903: Another update from the BBC weather centre: The players can expect it hot and sultry again in Liverpool with a maximum 28 degrees. The fairways are drying out already and any early morning breeze is slowly dropping off.

0843: SK Ho and Mark Calcavecchia again move a shot clear to two-under after birdies at the 528-yard par five fifth. Behind them, Finland's Mikko Ilonen, Italy's Edoardo Molinari and England's Lee Westwood have joined a pack of seven chasing players on one-under after making encouraging starts.

0840: The third member of Casey and Garcia's group is American crowd favourite Fred Couples, who was able to play after missing last week's Scottish Open with a back injury. That was bad news for Swede Jesper Parnevik however, who had flown in on Wednesday as first reserve and was facing a long wait beside the first tee for any withdrawals.

0832: England's Paul Casey and Spain's Sergio Garcia - prospective European Ryder Cup team-mates at the K Club later this year - both birdie the first hole to move level with Australian Marcus Fraser, SK Ho and Mark Calcavecchia on one-under.

0822: Seven players are tied for second place behind leaders SK Ho and Mark Calcavecchia on level par. Among them is American Ben Curtis, the 2003 Champion, who made a steady start with consecutive pars, and Aussie Elkington, who was joint-second with Thomas Levet, Stuart Appleby behind Ernie Els at Muirfield in 2002.

0810: A food lorry heading for the hospitality area has been stuck in the mud down the left-hand side of the second hole. It had to be removed by a JCB after a forklift truck was unable to shift it. The lorry was treated by rules officials as a "temporary immovable obstruction," allowing players hindered by it to a free drop.

0756: Korean SK Ho and 1989 Open champion Mark Calcavecchia have the honour of sharing the early lead on one-under par at Hoylake. Ho birdied the 436-yard par four second while American veteran Calcavecchia, who teed off in the following group, birdied the first to draw level.

0741: How is the course playing? Speaking on BBC Radio Five Live, England's Ryder Cup hopeful Paul Broadhurst, who starts at around 1010 BST, said: "conditions are perfectly suited to someone who likes to hit and run. The fairways are still rock hard, despite the overnight showers."

0735: Conditions seem to be improving all the time at Hoylake, although a BBC weather report warns that we may see brief showers around lunch time.

0723: The first Briton to tee-off, Barry Lane, is up-and-running in a group that also includes American Billy Andrade and Marcus Fraser of Australia.

0715: "Hedblom, Elkington and Kelly's drives at the first all found the fairway in front of the biggest first-game crowd I've seen in five Opens. It's going to be a bumper attendance today. The rain has stopped but it's wet underfoot. Starter Ivor Robson, resplendent in his green jacket, is in good form."
Matt Slater, BBC Sport at Hoylake

0659: Sweden's Peter Hedblom gets the Open Championship under way with a sweet drive off the tee. Australia's Steve Elkington also strikes an accurate drive to the fairway before American Jerry Kelly follows suit with beautifully struck wood.