Veterans Mark Calcavecchia and Thomas Björn were making the early headlines as Rory McIlroy began his bid to become the youngest Open Champion since 1893.
McIlroy came into The 140th Open Championship at Royal St George's as favourite following his record-breaking US Open Championship victory at Congressional last month, since when he has not played competitively.
And the 22 year old perhaps showed signs of a little rustiness when he bogeyed the opening hole, three-putting from just over the green after playing partner Rickie Fowler had holed out for birdie from an almost identical position.
Play had started on schedule at 6:30am, with 1989 winner Calcavecchia in the second group out and picking up birdies at the fourth and seventh.
The 51 year old American reached the turn in 33 and was joined at the top of the leaderboard by 41 year old Björn, who was famously joint second when The Open was last staged here in 2003, seeing a three shot lead with four holes to play wiped out after taking three shots to escape from a greenside bunker on the 16th.
He was only sixth reserve as recently as last week before a spate of withdrawals, but was making the most of his call-up on Monday when Vijay Singh pulled out through injury.
After saving par from over the green on the downwind first, Björn holed from 14 feet for a birdie on the second and almost repeated the trick from twice the distance on the third.
The former Ryder Cup player then saved par on the next two holes with good chips to three and six feet respectively, missed from eight feet for birdie on the sixth but holed from five feet for birdie on the par five seventh.
Players had been struggling to even reach the seventh fairway in the strong winds on Tuesday and Wednesday, with tournament officials admitting tees would have to be moved forward if similar conditions persisted.
And that was indeed the case today on the par three 11th, where Phil Mickelson and Luke Donald had both been unable to reach the green with a driver on Tuesday.
That no doubt helped first man out Jerry Kelly record a birdie two, but the American was still four over par after going to the turn in 40.
At least he had not suffered the same fate as in 2003, when he took 11 on the opening hole on his way to a round of 86. This time he managed just a bogey five, but dropped four more shots going out before birdies on the tenth and 11th.
McIlroy also went through the green on the second and third, saving par from six feet on the former but missing from 12 feet on the latter after a poor chip.
At two over par after just three holes he was four off the lead shared by Björn, Calcavecchia,
England's Graeme Storm and Scot Martin Laird, with Björn having reached three under after eight before dropping a shot on the ninth.
Storm was playing alongside Calcavecchia and, after going out in 35, had picked up shots at the tenth and 12th.
World Number One Luke Donald had opened with two pars along with playing partner Sergio Garcia, while 2003 champion Ben Curtis was also level par after four.
