Denmark's Thomas Björn was among the early leaders as The 140th Open Championship began at royal St George’s.
Second at the same venue in 2003 after seeing a three shot lead with four holes to play wiped out, Björn got up and down for par from over the first green, then holed from 14 feet for birdie at the second.
That was enough for a share of the lead along with England’s Danny Willett, 1989 champion Mark Calcavecchia, Sweden's Fredrik Jacobson and American Ryan Moore.
American Jerry Kelly had started the day, and although he was already four over par he was still on course to better his previous trip to Sandwich.
When The Open was last staged at Royal St George's in 2003, Kelly took 11 on the opening hole on his way to a first round of 86 before withdrawing, with Tiger Woods also running up a seven on the same hole in wet and windy conditions.
Conditions were considerably calmer this morning as play got under way, although light rain was falling as Kelly, Australia's Nathan Green and Willett teed off in the first group.
Kelly split the fairway with his drive, but his approach ran through to the back of the green, from where he took three putts to card a bogey five.
In contrast, Green had found heavy rough with his tee shot and needed a lucky bounce over a bunker with his second, but then chipped in across the full width of the green for a birdie.
Kelly then ran up a double-bogey six on the second and dropped another shot at the sixth to prop up the rest of the early starters, although former champion Mark O'Meara was also struggling at three over par, alongside Thailand's Prayad Marksaeng.
US Open Champion and tournament favourite Rory McIlroy was due out at 9:09am, alongside 2002 champion Ernie Els and American Rickie Fowler.
Björn, who had only been sixth reserve as recently as last week before a spate of withdrawals, almost holed from 25 feet for another birdie at the second and then saved par on the next two holes with good chips to three and six feet respectively.
The 40 year old then missed from eight feet for birdie on the sixth, meaning Calcavecchia's birdie on the par five seventh took him into the outright lead at two under par.
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 on the par three 11th, where Phil Mickelson and Luke Donald had both been unable to reach the green with a driver on Tuesday.
