By Matt Slater BBC Sport at Hoylake

Faldo and Woods exchange mobile numbers on the first tee

After five holes of their round on Thursday it was evident to all that Nick Faldo's falling out with Tiger Woods was a feud with no future.

Much has been made this week of the bad blood between them and, from the moment they were grouped together for the first two days' play at Hoylake, the state of their relationship has been the subject of scrutiny.

Early on Monday, when the draw was made, the Royal and Ancient's decision to partner the English hero with the American superstar raised eyebrows.

By Monday evening the full extent of their estrangement had become apparent. Faldo wasn't that chuffed at all with the prospect of pitting his out-of-practice game against the world number one's.

And when Woods responded on Tuesday that he too would have preferred another partner (anybody at all, to be frank) it seemed the R&A had either had a shocker or pulled off a marketing miracle.

Because while Hoylake's "mighty winds" failed to materialize during the build-up, Faldo v Woods was a full-blown media storm, one that provided enough puff to get football off the back page and golf on it.

But all storms blow themselves out and the end to this one was in sight when the two warring factions swapped pleasantries on the range on Wednesday.

It seemed the R&A had been right all along when they innocently stated the pair's relationship, frosty or otherwise, "had not been a factor at all" in the draw and that it was probably all "exaggerated" anyway.

Faldo and Woods try to make friends on the practice range

Despite that, there still seemed to be a bit more meat on this bone, largely because it was evident to all that while this was no Glencoe Massacre-sized vendetta, these multiple major-winners weren't WWF-style pretending.

Faldo at 49 is less prickly than he was at 39 but he can still rub people up the wrong way, particularly in his new role as TV analyst in the US.

Not that Tiger takes much rubbing. His nickname suggests feline qualities but his ability to harbour grudges is elephantine, as Butch Harmon and Fuzzy Zoeller can testify.

And it certainly looked as though Faldo v Woods might actually amount to something.

An hour before their scheduled start, the two would-be warriors reached the driving range.

The Englishman arrived first, looking the very definition of seen-it-all-before veteran. Quite the crowd-pleaser now that his competitive fires have dimmed, Faldo stopped to sign autographs and mug for pictures.

Woods, on the other hand, marched, head down, from his car - he was followed by two cars' worth of security detail - to the spot immediately beside his is-he-isn't-he adversary.

Hold on, the assembled hacks thought, isn't this how it all started?

For those that don't know the story, Faldo critiqued (correctly) a bad Tiger swing at the 2005 Buick Invitational (a tournament Woods eventually won) on live TV, only for a pumped-up Tiger to belittle Faldo on the driving range at Bay Hill two months later.

This time, however, there was no obvious one-upmanship. There was no chitchat either, though.

We were out there playing and competing - Nick didn't get off to a good start and neither did I Tiger Woods

The two simply went through their bags, Woods working harder and faster, but there were no stolen glances.

Faldo moved off towards the practice green first, stopping along the way to say "hi" to old friends like Mr and Mrs Els and former coach David Leadbetter. Woods followed soon after. He said "hi" to nobody.

Preparations continued in front of the clubhouse. Here was the first indication that this game was easily the most anticipated on Thursday. The crowds, always silly when Woods is concerned, were downright ridiculous here.

When the players, including the three-ball's spare wheel Shingo Katayama, moved off to the 1st even Mrs Tiger Woods, Elin, was caught up in the crush and left without a view behind the four-deep galleries.

She would have missed Faldo shaking hands with her husband. Tiger said he would be "surprised" if this happened: Faldo had said "then I'll surprise him".

And for the next 15 minutes it seemed we were on for a few more surprises.

Woods missed the fairway with an iron and was short of the front edge with his second. Faldo found the fairway and was pin-high with his approach. Both missed their first putts but Tiger missed his second too to bogey and fall one shot behind his erstwhile rival.

Sadly, for fight fans, order was restored on the 2nd.

Faldo had said on Monday he was shocked the R&A put two players of "different eras" together - you could see what he meant as he found two bunkers on the straightforward par-four, mistakes that would lead to a six.

The next hour merely confirmed this generational gap. Faldo tried but nothing would drop, and even his tee-to-green play lacked its traditional tidiness.

Faldo and Woods enjoyed differing fortunes during the opening round

You couldn't help thinking the Faldo of yore wouldn't have been so ready to indulge the crowd with waves and winks, or for that matter have made the endearing but slightly sentimental decision to put his teenage son Matthew on his bag.

By the time the day's 40th game had left the long 5th, Faldo's one-shot "lead" after one had become a three-shot deficit.

The remaining holes saw both men battle to find their best form, but only the younger man was having any success. The 30-year-old American can grind with the best of them when he has to, a bit like Faldo could a decade or so ago.

Faldo's fortunes fluctuated. He picked up birdies at 15 and 16 but then double-bogeyed the 17th.

And then Woods supplied the coup de grace, a superb eagle at the last that only he can make look routine. This put the gap between him and Faldo at 10 shots - harsh but probably fair.

The day ended in a handshake but there wasn't much warmth there.

In fact, if truth be told, emotion of any kind was strangely lacking in this contest. Do Faldo and Woods like each other? Probably not. Does it matter? Not really.

Sporting rivalries, like Sicilian blood feuds, need attacks and reprisals. At Hoylake on Thursday there was only stony-faced determination and frustrated resignation.