It did not take long for Royal St George's to serve up a warning of what troubles lay in store for the remaining players in The Open Championship.
Some 71 players made the halfway cut at three over, with all of them still in with a chance of victory giving the lead being shared at four under by Darren Clarke and Lucas Glover, coupled with the bad weather forecast.
That forecast proved unfortunately accurate as far as the early starters were concerned, with the par four fourth hole playing particularly tough.
Measuring 495 yards on the card, the hole features the monstrous "Himalayas" bunker, which is around 40 feet high and to be avoided at all costs, as Reg Glading discovered in the final of the English Amateur Championship in 1979.
Glading's ball lodged itself near the top and under the lip of the bunker. He climbed the hill, took a swing at the ball and fell head over heels back down the slope.
With the hole playing straight into the wind today the tee had been moved forward, but that did not stop the first five players out completing it in a cumulative ten over par.
Australia's Matthew Millar - first out on his own at 8:55am - took six, while 1999 champion Paul Lawrie and Gregory Bourdy took seven and six respectively.
K J Choi also carded a double bogey six, leaving playing partner Paul Casey's bogey five looking like an eagle.
Lawrie's seven had indeed come as a result of a visit to the "Himalayas" bunker, and even an eagle on the downwind seventh could not prevent the Scot from taking 40 shots to the turn.
American Gary Woodland was offering some hope to the later starters however, birdies at the fifth and seventh taking him two under for the day and one over for the tournament.
And five-time champion Tom Watson was using all of his experience to good effect, the 61 year old opening with three pars to remain two over par.
But a second round 68 indicated he had picked up a few useful tips on Thursday and his front nine of 33 was three shots better than anyone else had managed.
Watson was also still going well, barely reaching the fourth fairway and coming up 50 yards short of the green with his second, but pitching to 15 feet and holing the putt for par - one of six in a row to start the round.
