Tiger Woods (71) misses out on birdie bonanza at defenceless Turnberry

Miguel Angel Jimenez

takes over lead with a

a flawless 64

FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE

Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez, pictured right, equalled the lowest first round in Open Championship history with a six under par 64 today - but Tom Watson was still the talk of Turnberry, a strangely benign links with not a breath of wind and no defence against the armoury of the world's best golfers.

Forty-nine players broke the par of 70, even though the course is some 7,200yd long and the long grass knee or waist-high in some places.
Two months short of his 60th birthday, Watson, the five-time Open champion - three of them achieved at Scottish links, made a dream start to what he insists is not simply a trip down memory lane this week.
After his superb 65 Watson, set to be the oldest player ever to lead a major until Jimenez two-putted the long 17th and then made a 60-footer for another birdie on the last two holes, declared: "I feel that I'm playing well enough to win. I feel inspired playing here."
Padraig Harrington, meanwhile, began his bid for the first Open hat-trick since Peter Thomson in 1956 with a 69 - a big step in the right direction after five successive missed cuts on the European and American tours.
Watson's 65 was matched by 2003 champion Ben Curtis and right at the end of the day by Japan's Kenichi Kuboya, who finished sensationally - birdie, birdie, eagle, birdie - for an inward 30.
Curtis, 396th in the world six years ago when he became the first debutant to take the title since Watson at Carnoustie in 1975, now stands 27th in the rankings. His four birdies in the last six holes made dinner taste better too.
Paul Casey, Lee Westwood, David Howell and Graeme McDowell had hopes of figuring high on the leaderboard after flying starts, but all four finished with 68s.
The five-strong group on four under, meanwhile, included Australian John Senden.
A week ago Senden was seventh reserve for the event and it was only on arriving from Texas on Tuesday that Jeev Milkha Singh's side muscle injury let him in.
winners (in 2003) came in with a matching 65.Conditions were so easy that Curtis might well have scored in the even lower 60s for he cancelled out a couple of double bogeys with an eagle 3 at the seventh and a grandstand finish of four birdies over the last six holes. Late in the evening Japan's Kenichi Kuboya moved alongside Watson and Curtis on the 65 mark.Miguel Angel Jimenez equalled the lowest first round in Open Championship history with a six under par 64 today - but Tom Watson was still the talk of Turnberry.
Two months short of his 60th birthday the five-time Open champion made a dream start to what he insists is not simply a trip down memory lane this week.
After his superb 65 Watson, set to be the oldest player ever to lead a major until Jimenez two-putted the long 17th and then made a 60-footer for another birdie on the two holes, declared: "I feel that I'm playing well enough to win. I feel inspired playing here."
Padraig Harrington, meanwhile, began his bid for the first Open hat-trick since Peter Thomson in 1956 with a 69 - a big step in the right direction after five successive missed cuts on the European and American tours.
Watson's 65 was matched by 2003 champion Ben Curtis and right at the end of the day by Japan's Kenichi Kuboya, who finished sensationally - birdie, birdie, eagle, birdie - for an inward 30.
Curtis, 396th in the world six years ago when he became the first debutant to take the title since Watson at Carnoustie in 1975, now stands 27th in the rankings. His four birdies in the last six holes made dinner taste better too.
Paul Casey, Lee Westwood, David Howell and Graeme McDowell had hopes of figuring high on the leaderboard after flying starts, but all four finished with 68s.
The five-strong group on four under, meanwhile, included Australian John Senden.
A week ago Senden was seventh reserve for the event and it was only on arriving from Texas on Tuesday that Jeev Milkha Singh's side muscle injury let him in.
Six years ago, Curtis was virtually unknown except to family and friends when he won the Claret Jug at the first attempt. He missed the Open cut on his next three attempts, but has finished in the top 10 at the Open the last two years. Now, he’s confident of making a run at another Open championship.“You don’t win it once and not be able to do it again,” he said. “The last couple of years have been good for me, and this week I got off to a good start.”

Cigar-smoking, and a pony-tailed hairstyle give Miguel Angel Jimenz - The Mechanic - a distinctive look and his image had been flashed around the world quite a few times as he returned a flawless six under par round of 64 with birdies at the second, sixth, seventh and nine - to be out in four-under 31 - and after a round of solid pars from the turn, Miguel suddenly got a fire going again at the last two holes, both of which he birdied, holing a long one across the 18th green, to come home in two-under 33.

To be quite honest about it, the sunny, calm conditions made Turnberry a sitting duck, as would any links course on the Open roster have been, for the world's best golfers to rip apart.

Well, not all of them ripped it apart. No 1 Tiger Woods, seeking his fourth Open championship triumph, was not a happy man to score only a one-over-par 71 while lesser golfing mortals were making hay by staying out of it.

Colin Montgomerie and Paul Lawrie both matched Tiger Woods' 71. Gary Orr had a 73, Martin Laird a 74, Lloyd Saltman and Sandy Lyle both 75s and Richie Ramsay a sad 77. Best Scottish performance was a 69 by David Drysdale, one of the evening finishers. He was closely followed by Elliot Saltman's 70.

Watson, a five-time Open champion, posted his lowest score in the tournament since a second-round 65 in 1994 - the last time it was held at Turnberry. A year ago, he shot 74-76 at Birkdale and missed the cut.
Watson posted five birdies and made a couple of testy par saves, including a 6-footer at the final hole to ensure his name would be all alone atop the leaderboard, at least for a while.
With red numbers there for the taking, Australia's John Senden, American Steve Stricker and Camilo Villegas of Colombia put up 66s. Stewart Cink of the U.S. and England's David Howell also were at 4 under while still on the course, and 1989 Open champion Mark Calcavecchia went out in the first group of the day with his wife on the bag and shot 67.
Stricker, playing in the group just ahead of Watson, got a chance to keep up with the turn-back-the-clock round.
"That was very cool to watch," Stricker said. "It gives hope to everybody that you can continue to play well in your later years."
The conditions along the picturesque Scottish coast were ideal for going low — the sun peeking in and out of the clouds, the Ailsa Craig easily visible offshore, the flags hanging limply above the grandstands, barely the hint of a breeze.
"It was perfect out there," Calcavecchia said. "The course couldn't possibly play any easier. I don't know how long it's going to stay like that."
Surprisingly, overwhelming favourite Tiger Woods failed to take advantage. He was plodding along at one over par and finished with a one-over 71, flipping his club away several times in frustration as tee shots kept flying off to the right.

No such problems for Senden, who didn't even know if he'd be playing this week. He got into the tournament Tuesday as an alternate when Jeev Milkha Singh withdrew with an injury. The Aussie stayed away from bogey and birdied four of the last six holes for a 66.
"I was lucky enough to be in the field, so that was a bonus," Senden said.
All week Watson has been reminded of his showdown with Nicklaus in 1977, when the Open first came to historic Turnberry. Watson held on to win by a stroke in what was essentially a match-play format over the final round.
"I don't live in the past," he said. "But certainly that has been at the forefront of a lot of conversations for me this week. A lot of people have been congratulating me for '77, and they remember it, too. It's amazing there's a lot of kids in the tournament who were not even born in 1977."
That includes one of Watson's playing partners, 16-year-old British amateur champion - the youngest ever - Italy's Matteo Manassero, the youngest player in the field. Watson is the oldest.
Calcavecchia is no spring chicken himself. He remembered his 1989 performance at Royal Troon, about 20 miles north of Turnberry, when he beat Wayne Grady and Norman in a play-off to win his only major championship.
"Yep, it was 20 years ago, right up the road," Calcavecchia said. "This has always been my favourite tournament of the year to come to."
But he almost passed up the chance to play this year. After playing 36 holes last Sunday at the rain-plagued John Deere Classic, the 49-year-old American had back spasms and considered staying home.
Now, he's glad he came - though the pernickety Scottish weather can change at any time. Just ask last year's runner-up, Ian Poulter, who had an afternoon tee time.
"Watching the golf this morning on TV," he wrote on Twitter. "It's flat, calm and no rain there. I'm staying 5 miles away and it's pouring down." Poulter is 11 shots behind the leader after a 75.
Norman failed to follow up his stirring performance last year, when he was 18 holes away from becoming the oldest major champion. He looked every bit his age (54), struggling to a 77 that left him unlikely to make the cut which, judging by the first-day scoring, is going to be low, even though wind and some rain are forecast for the second day's play.