“My back is stiff and a little bit sore,” Smyth said after completing his round in the first group out yesterday “I did a very silly thing. I had a very long day on Monday and had to stop after playing nine holes as I was just too tired.”I had to wait for a friend so I put the seat down and laid in the car with one foot over the dashboard. I know I shouldn’t have done it, I know, but I fell asleep for about 10 minutes. I woke up and was getting pains up my back and down my legs.”The physios told me not to play and I didn’t at all yesterday. They said something about nerves rubbing up against joint.”These were to be the only nerves Smyth felt all day, something he attributes to the bloom of middle age. “Maybe I am not afraid as I might have been in years gone by. I am performing better than I am expecting to because I am just looking around thinking it is marvellous to be here.

I suppose you have to get over 40 to even feel like that.”Last March Smyth became the oldest player ever to win an event on the European Tour – the Madeira Open – and believes his best years may yet be in front of him, especially on the Seniors’ Tour from next year. Lyle is too much of a realist to expect the same, especially as he surveys a career that has had two major victories, including the Open title in 1985 at Sandwich.Lyle’s last title on the European Tour was 10 years ago, since when he has been disproving the theory that life begins at 40. Last week at Loch Lomond, however, he turned back the Sandys of time to lie in second place after two rounds.It was little surprise when the Scot fell away in the third round, but at least the old fires of competitiveness had been stoked. Yesterday, he applied the fire-lighters once again with six birdies, and but for three bogeys his card may have even compared to the one they still speak of in hushed tones here when Lyle defied the howling wind and rain to post one of the greatest ever level-par rounds in 1987.Birdies at the final three holes brought Lyle the score he deserved yesterday after he hit 12 out of 14 fairways. A 12-foot putt on the 16th was followed by a two-putt birdie on the 17th when he became one of the few on the day to get up to the 546-yard par-five in two.Then came what Lyle called “the grand finale” when the galleries on the 18th were treated to a glimpse of vintage Sandy.”A three-iron and then a six-iron into four feet from 200 yards.

That’s the way to finish a round,” he said.Behind him, Ian Woosnam would have given a lot for such a finale. The Welshman, who is still living under last year’s shadow of Lytham, dropped two shots in the last three holes to slump to a 72.”Did your caddie count the clubs this time?” came the inevitable question “Of course he did,” said Woosnam Only about 1,000 times.. The only thing more densely packed than the rough here was the leaderboard after the opening round of the 131st Open Championship yesterday Yet one name stood out. Justin Rose did not lead but in compiling a round of 68 alongside the world No 1 and overwhelming favourite, Tiger Woods, the 21-year-old exuded a confidence and class only hinted at by his extraordinary amateur performance at Birkdale four years ago.With the proviso that it was only one round, and round one, Rose outscored Woods by two strokes and matched the effort of their Japanese playing partner, Shigeki Maruyama.
Rose and Maruyama were among a number on three under par, one behind the three co-leaders, Carl Pettersson, the US-based Swede, who would have claimed the lead outright but for a bogey on the last, and the Americans David Toms, the reigning USPGA champion, and Duffy Waldorf.