It was wet, it was windy, but nothing was going to stop fans turning out in huge numbers to see Jeev Milkha Singh set the pace at the first Irish Open in Northern Ireland since 1953.
Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell, the three Major Champions whose success helped to bring the event back across the border, were always going to have the biggest galleries following them.
But Indian Singh was certainly not complaining about the number following him as he set the pace - just before a 95-minute storm delay - with a seven under par 65.
"The atmosphere and the feel to the golf course is fantastic," said the 40 year old.
"When you have so many people cheering and watching you I think you feel great."
Singh, who was presented with a 21 year old bottle of single malt whisky by Darren Clarke before the event, had precious little experience of playing links golf growing up in Chandigarh, but mastered the course and conditions in a dynamic display.
“I love links golf, you have to hit a lot of low shots and you have to have a lot of imagination,” said the three-time European Tour champion.
“I think a lot of feel and imagination is required, and that’s what I love about links golf. The atmosphere and the feel to the golf course is just fantastic. It looks and feels just great.
“Growing up, I never played a links golf course. The first time I played a links golf course was when I came for the Open Qualifying, it must have been about 20 years ago, and I enjoyed every bit of it – even though it was really tough.
“I thought: How can you play courses like this, in these conditions? It’s so tough! But now I just love it.”
Of the gift he received from Clarke, the avowed whisky connoisseur said: “Darren presented me with a 21 year old Bushmills single malt, which was very gracious of him. I like to have some whisky once in a while, especially with my father on Sunday nights. He likes it as well. So I’ll sit down with him after the tournament, have a nice chat and have a drink with him. I really enjoy doing that.”
Jeev’s father Milkha Singh, a former Olympic athlete nicknamed ‘The Flying Sikh’, is the subject of a Bollywood movie which is currently in production.
Singh said: “The director and the producer spent a lot of time with him. It’s an inspirational movie called Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and it’s going to be released on the 26th of January next year on the public holiday, that’s the plan.
“I think the filming is going along really well. That’s what we hear from the director, the producer and the actors. Hopefully it’s going to make a lot of difference to some people. It’s just going to be about his life story, from his childhood until he started running. I think it’s going to be really good.”
England's Mark Foster, part of a group on 66 with compatriot Andrew Marshall and Australian Matthew Zions, commented: "It was just amazing out there.
"I got a six o'clock car to the course and, I kid you not, there were people queuing to get in - even though the rain was coming sideways.
"I've never seen a buzz in the players' lounge like there is this week. People are raving about the course and the size of the crowds."
It is the first time for a regular European Tour event that organisers put the "Sold Out" signs up, with 27,000 tickets purchased for each day's play.
First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy Martin McGuinness were also in attendance to witness the scenes.
McDowell was the first of the three local heroes into action, but hitting a pitch into bushes for a double-bogey seven on the 581 yard 17th - his eighth - took the wind out of his sails and he had to settle for a one under 71.
McIlroy, who has missed four of his last five halfway cuts, was two under after eight when play was suspended, but Clarke, yet to make a cut all year and with only one more tournament before his defence of The Open Championship, turned two over.
Before the tournament Clarke had presented Singh with a bottle of 21 year old Bushmills single malt whiskey, but he is keeping that until he can share it with his father Milkha - the "Flying Sikh", who lost out on an Olympic 400 metres medal in a photo-finish in 1960 and about whom a film is currently being made.
Singh, whose own dream is to represent India on the sport's return to the Games in 2016, is a real lover of links golf.
Not that anybody who witnessed his first experience of it would have guessed that - as a 16 year old in 1988 he competed in the Amateur Championship at Royal Porthcawl in Wales, but had rounds of 87 and 84 there and at Pyle and Kenfig to miss out on the match-play stages.
"I thought 'My God, this is tough'. I wasn't used to wearing rain gear," said the three-time European Tour winner.
Irishman Padraig Harrington, playing with McDowell and equally thrilled at seeing the tournament come north, pitched in from around 60 yards for birdie on his penultimate hole and with a 67 is firmly in the hunt.
Defending champion Simon Dyson, the third member of the group, matched that, while Ryder Cup Captain José María Olazábal and Scot Paul Lawrie - playing together for the third time in under two months - both shot 69.
Australian Zions, a winner in St Omer last year but without a top 20 finish this campaign, had four birdies in his last five holes and said: “I got off to a good start, which I seem to be doing a lot lately.
“It was just nice to kind of tie it all together today. I did everything good, I drove it really well. The course requires a lot of accuracy off the tee, and I drove it very, very well today.”
McIlroy, watched by girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki after her first round exit from Wimbledon, went to four under with further birdies on the tenth and 14th, while Clarke picked up shots at the tenth and 12th to get back to level par, the same as US PGA Champion Keegan Bradley.
"As the day went on the greens got a bit slower and coming from the greens I've been putting on (in the States) it's a big change," he said.
Clarke felt better about his 71 because he had been two over after eight, while US PGA Champion Keegan Bradley had to settle for a 73 in his first-ever competitive round in Europe.
Singh was by no means certain to lead at the end of the round, however. French pair Gregory Bourdy and Edouard Dubois reached six under with four to play and were up into a tie for second.
