Garcia bounced back from a back-nine putting blip to card four under

Jimenez birdied the 8th, 9th and 10th and then the 16th and 18th to card a 67 and take a share of second place.

Garcia, fifth in 2005, hit two birdies on the last three holes to finish four under with Finland's Mikko Ilonen.

Swede Niclas Fasth fired a 69 and Thomas Bjorn 72, while Jose Maria Olazabal shot 73 and Seve Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer carded 74s.

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Jimenez, who was followed by a group of fans sporting ginger wigs with ponytails, said: "It was a great round. I played very good all day and I'm putting well.

"The golf course is in great condition and it is very fair from the tee."

Three-time winner Ballesteros endured a shaky ride as he kicked off his first appearance at the Open for five years with a 74.

The Spanish maestro, accompanied by 15-year-old son Baldomero on the bag, got off to a poor start with bogeys on the first and seventh holes.

At least I finished with a couple of birdies on the last three and had a good, decent round there Sergio Garcia

Playing only his second serious event of the year, he then rescued some pride with birdies either side of the turn.

But further dropped shots on the 12th and 13th saw him slide back down the leaderboard.

However, he said he was happy with his performance after being buoyed by the crowd and having Baldomero as his caddy.

"It's been a long time and playing the Open is a lot of pressure," he said.

"But having my son by my side walking the fairways and the people shouting for me was great encouragement."

Garcia got off to the perfect start with a birdie from nine feet at the first and picked up further shots at the fifth and seventh.

He then saved par from nine feet on the ninth after finding a greenside bunker off the tee, but missed a great chance for birdie on the 10th before bogeying the 14th.

But he bounced back on the 16th and 18th to boost his title hopes.

"I feel like my form is starting to come back slowly," he told BBC Sport. "I had a fairly decent last week at the Scottish Open.

"It was nice to have a good four under par.

"It could have been a little better - I putted nicely on the front nine but then I hit on the green on 10 in two and unfortunately ran it by a bit, missed it and then missed another short one on 13.

"At least I finished with a couple of birdies on the last three and had a good, decent round there."

Norway's Marius Thorp leads the race for the Silver Medal awarded to the leading amateur following an excellent round of 71.