THURSDAY - ROUND ONE

7.00am: They’re off! The three-ball of Peter Baker, Des Smyth and James Kingston get the 131st Open Championship under way. It’s a cloudy and cool morning at Muirfield with little if any wind. There’s a hint of rain in the air although it looks a bit brighter across the Firth of Forth.

7.30am: The first hole at Muirfield has been described as one of the hardest opening holes in Championship golf. And so far it’s living up to its reputation with three of the first six players through making bogey.

7.45am: The press tent is fairly empty at the moment. No doubt that will change dramatically the nearer we get to Tiger’s tee-time of 9.01am. The locals are happy so far with Sandy Lyle at the top of the leaderboard alongside Patrik Sjoland after a birdie at the second. The treacherous first hole claims an early victim in Tom Watson as the five-time Open champion takes a double bogey six.

7.55am: Ernie Els at 8.17am will be the first of our tips to get his round off and running. Just to remind you of our selections here they are with their prices and tee-times:
0817: Ernie Els at 18/1
0901: Tiger Woods at 2/1
0912: Justin Leondard at 50/1
0950: Sergio Garcia at 20/1
1357: Davis Love at 33/1
We’ve also backed this bunch, aside from Tiger, on the spreads. But we’re also looking out for two other players.
0901: Justin Rose – bought finishing position at 36
1519: Bob Estes – sold finishing position at 38

For those not too clear on spread betting, this basically means I want Estes to do well and Rose to do badly. I have nothing personal against Rose of course but my head says that playing with Tiger may well overwhelm him. With all the distractions I shall put my neck on the line and say ROSE WILL MISS THE CUT!

8.00am: With an hour gone, Scotland's Sandy Lyle is the outright leader on one-under-par.

8.10am: I'm off outside to see how Els plays the dangerous first.

8.30am: A good start for Els as he makes a solid par at the first. A good drive down the left, an iron into the heart of the green and a routine two-putt. And there’s more good news. I manage to catch a word with Ernie’s dad who tells me: “I think he’s going to have a good one.” Ahhh, music to my ears Mr Els. Talking of which, the first hole runs parallel to the Open Golf Show tent and as the players are lining up to putt Tiger’s voice is blaring out from a Nike advert. Brad Faxon hears it and so does Els. Are Tiger’s spin doctors trying to un-nerve his rivals further? On the dash back to the press tent I pass Tiger’s mother. She appears to be accompanied by the bloke who played Tiger in the dreadful made-for-TV film “The Tiger Woods Story”. Whatever next.

8.50am: I'm going to grab a bacon sandwich and then try to follow Tiger Woods for a while. I say try because the crowds are so packed that it's hard to see anything at all. If not I may drop back to see Justin Leonard or catch up with Ernie Els and family again.

12pm: Well, it’s tails between the legs time with Justin Rose as he continues to get the better of Tiger Woods. The signs were bad from the start when the supposed masses following Woods - the reason I opposed Rose - weren’t as great in number as many thought. At previous Opens you’ve needed a periscope to get the merest glimpse of Woods but this time the galleries were only three of four deep in many places and viewing wasn’t too bad. After Rose started to pick up birdies, I had the feeling that I was an anti-jinx and had better leave. Instead I picked up the Els group again. If, like me, you’ve got six or seven different bets on, the thirst for scores is great and it can be hard to obtain if you’re actually out there. The leaderboards around the greens only carry the scores of the leaders or the group playing the hole. By the 10th there’s a huge scoreboard with everyone on it. Each player’s score is listed hole-by-hole with different colours used to denote eagles, birdies, pars and bogeys. When I stopped by at 10.30am, the news was mixed. Els +1, Woods –1, Garcia +1, Leonard –1, Rose –2. I was aware of some of the scores as the other way to keep in touch is to take a pocket radio. A number of stations carry live coverage and it’s a great way to stay on the ball. I had started watching Els just as he birdied the 8th and I left him just after he’d got back to level par at the 14th. Hopefully he can keep it going as Sergio Garcia is starting to let me down big time having moved to +3. The wind was virtually non-existent for most of the morning with the occasional burst of sunshine breaking through the clouds. Veterans Des Smyth and Sandy Lyle are already in with three-under-par 68s and there will be plenty more under par scores if it stays like this.

12.15pm: Drama! There's a power cut in the press tent. All the lights and TVs have gone off although laptops are still working to everyone's relief.

12.45pm: The lights are back on in the press tent. Apparently, we’re draining too much energy according to Scottish Power and the blackouts will happen “intermittently”. Tiger's now playing the 17th so hopefully he will come into the press centre shortly to give us his thoughts. He often just gives greenside interviews so we'll have to wait and see. Rose continues to stay steady on -3 but there's better news for Els who plays the inward nine in 33 to finish one-under. And Garcia has got it back to +1 just as I was starting to fear another Carnoustie style blowout.

1pm: Contrasting fortunes for my tips. Just as Garcia birdies the 17th to get back to level par (he was +3 earlier on), Love carves his tee-shot into the rough stuff on the first.

2.15pm: A year is a long time in golf and David Duval knows that more than anyone. A complete loss of form this season means little attention has been given to the American even though he is our current Open champion. The interview room in the press centre was barely half full when Duval strolled in today after his one-over-par 72 – a stark contrast to Tiger Woods less than an hour earlier. Duval still has a sense of humour though. After golf writer Art Spander’s mobile phone went off, the man conducting the interview said jokingly that Spander should be banned. “Is that a promise?” came Duval’s droll reply.

2.40pm: I'm going back out on the course to follow some of the afternoon starters. Colin Montgomerie seems to be making an early move after two early birdies. Davis Love, one of my men to follow, is in the same group so I'll try and catch up with their three-ball. Still the lead remains at three-under. P>

5pm: It's been glorious weather over the last couple of hours and the fact that Duffy Waldorf's four-under 67 leads makes you wonder what the scores will be when the weather turns. There's plenty of Scots starting to turn pink as the sun beams down, including Colin Montgomerie. It looked like Lytham revisted as Monty burst out of the blocks with two early birdies but he's since been pegged back to level par. But his support is excellent. Indeed, trying to follow Monty around was harder than it was with Woods earlier in the day. The crowds are thicker and it was a question of trying to catch a glimpse through rows and rows of heads. Of course, my attention was also on Davis Love and a birdie at the eighth had me cheering the man the Scots refer to as “Davis Love The Thud”. It's a good job we're not in Ireland… think about it. After watching Love and Monty tee off at the ninth I stopped off to look at the big scoreboard situated back from the fairway. Bob Estes level par after two. A solid start for my dark horse. There's a big open area by the scoreboard where the sun seemed to have taken its toll, with bodies strewn over the floor, several of them taking a nap. Unless of course they'd passed out after seeing the prices of the “Official Open merchandise” in the tent behind - £28 for a polo shirt, £16 for a baseball cap and even £15 for a teddy bear. The practice area is just around the corner from there and Thomas Bjorn was busy practicing his bunker shots. On the driving range Bernhard Langer was pumping iron shots along with Paul McGinley and Bradley Dredge. It's the place to gather for autograph hunters and you have to admire the brashness of some of the wee Scottish kiddie. A player in dark glasses tossed a practice ball into an eager pair of hands, probably believing he had done a good deed. But he was soon cut down to size as the youngster responded: “Hey mister, you've just given me a ball but I've know how idea what your name is.” “Scott Layock” came the muttered reply as the Aussie slid away.

6pm: Time for a quick assessment of how our tips are performing. Ernie Els is in nice position on one-under par and hit 14 out of 14 fairways today. “If I can hit my approach shots a little better I will feel a lot better with my game but I do feel I have an outside chance now.” Umm, so what were you thinking before then Ernie? Have some belief, like your Dad does (see 8.30am). Sergio Garcia made a great recovery from three over to finish level and described himself as “quite happy”. Justin Leonard is also handily placed on level par but I’m not sure how he’s feeling. The US correspondent who deals with the Texas area didn’t manage to catch him today as Leonard headed off to the putting green after his round but apparently he looked pretty happy. Out on the course, Davis Love is one over so could do with making a birdie at the par five 17th while dark horse spreads sell Bob Estes is justifying our faith. He’s one-under after 10. Tiger, of course, is one-under and looks ready to really open up on Friday. The worry is Justin Rose who coped admirably well with all the distractions that go with playing alongside Woods and he’s just one of the pace. He might not find it so easy tomorrow though.

6.25pm: So what sort of crowd will be watching Bob Estes bring it home over the closing holes? Well I’m going to find out. His playing partners are Mikko Ilonen of Finland and Trinidad and Tobago’s Stephen Ames so this is a job for diehards or family members. Or people like me who’ve sold his finishing position on the spreads. As I set out he’s one-under after 12. Go Bob!

8.40pm: Well, it’s a low key end to a pretty low key day. Following Bob Estes for five holes was, as expected, hardly a thrill-a-minute but our spreads hope finished on level par and I’ll settle for that. There were precisely 18 people following the Estes-Ames-Ilonen threesome. Mrs Ames, about seven members of the Ilonen clan and a few random stragglers. As far as I know none of them were spreads punters. The ‘reward’ for following the Estes group was getting the chance to see leader Carl Petterson come up the 18th. The Swede became the only player all day to get to –5 after his birdie at the 17th but blew his 15 minutes of fame by bogeying the last. That left him in a tie for the lead with David Toms and Duffy Waldorf. Just a quick note on Ames. The Trinidad & Tobago man played extremely well over the final few holes, peppering the flags and deservedly finishing on three-under. He could be a man to watch when he sets out again on Friday morning. As for the tips, Els and Woods are just outside the top 20 on –1 while the even par shot by Garcia, Love and Estes puts them inside the top 40. I’m satisfied with that start although the less said about Justin Rose missing the cut the better. With a 5.30am alarm call awaiting tomorrow, I’ll sign off for the day.

8.45pm: And finally…. the weather forecast for Friday suggests rain and possibly wind. After the perfect conditions today, scores should be much higher.