By David Tindall

We expect surprises on the first day of Major championships.

But surely there can't have been many more unusual days than this.

Tiger Woods loses his ball on the first tee and takes a triple bogey seven; Colin Montgomerie withdraws from the tournament after a wrist injury sustained while falling over on his way to breakfast; defending champion Ernie Els almost plays himself out of contention with a disastrous 79; Jerry Kelly takes an 11 at the first hole.

Despite strange happenings at every turn, this was in many ways a typical day at the Open. First we had rain, then we had sun and all the while the wind whistled and changed direction all day. That is links golf.

So where do we stand after the opening day?

In some ways, nothing has changed. Despite his nightmare start, Tiger Woods is still the bookmakers' favourite to take the championship. His two over par which looked moderate at the time has stood up well and five shots off the pace is nothing, especially when we have a shock leader, Hennie Otto, who will surely only be allowed no more than his 15 minutes of fame.

It was great to see Greg Norman turn back the clock but I also fear that the 1993 winner here may have had his day in the sun.

But the man alongside Norman on two-under, Davis Love, could well be a massive threat to Tiger.

Love has three wins to his name this year and after preparing for this week by playing the great links courses in Ireland he looks to have his game in excellent nick.

Love has a great respect for the British Open due to his late father playing this tournament in the 1960s. And after a string of good Open performances this could now be the year when he adds an overdue second Major to his CV.

Hopes of a European winner look more remote at the end of the first day after leading lights Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke and Justin Rose all struggled.

But following on from his excellent fourth place in the US Open, Sweden's Freddie Jacobson now looks the man to pick up the gauntlet.

Jacobson seems a player without fear and if he can make a fast start on Friday morning, he could be a genuine threat. His round today was bogey-free – a superb performance in such testing conditions.

But like a 400m race, the stagger has yet to unwind in this Open. We shall know a lot more at the end of Friday evening. In fact, we may know by then that Ernie Els' reign as Open champion is over.