Ernie Els produced a steady round of 68 to sit comfortably near the top of the leaderboard after 18 holes.
The Big Easy had the crowd roaring with appreciation from the start as he made a birdie on the opening to get his 99th Major off to the perfect start.
The veteran South African, who won The Open in 2002 and again in 2012, was in control of his irons all afternoon, and more importantly his putter too, as he moved to -2 with another birdie on the fifth. His only blip came on the ninth when he made a bogey 5.
Els arrived on the 15th tee with five consecutive pars, but got back to two under with his third birdie of the day before making it four with another on the 16 after sinking a testing six-footer.
He remained in the group tied for fourth and within two of co-leaders Jordan Spieth and US Open winner Brooks Koepka with a sand save par on 17, before closing with a bogey for his 41st round under par at The Open – 15 better than next-best Darren Clarke.
‘You can’t take stock now. It’s so far away. Today, if you shoot 70 or better today, that was a good opening round because of the weather changing,’ said Els.
‘Tomorrow (Friday), 74 might be great. So you’ve just got to look at where you are in the field, but I feel that I’m competitive.
‘This morning, I didn’t even want to look out of the window. It sounded horrific. If it’s like that tomorrow, obviously it’s going to be tough.’
Els found 72% of the fairways, a stark contrast to the fortunes of Louis Oosthuizen, who limped home with an 8 over par 78.
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Photo: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
