Rory McIlroy hailed his latest fast start in a major - in what he describes as the 'fiddliest' Open he has ever played.
McIlroy, the 2014 champion at Hoylake, would love to make history by becoming a two-time Open winner on the occasion of the 150th championship.
"It's the fiddliest Open that I've played. It's the only way I can really describe it," said the Ulsterman, after shooting a six-under par 66 on the Old Course to trail early pace-setter Cameron Young by two shots.
"It's just really fiddly out there. Carnoustie was firm in 2018, but it wasn't like this.
"OK, the 18th at Carnoustie was like a runway, that fairway, but around the greens here and just all the slopes and undulations and everything, I think as the tournament progresses, you're going to get some funny bounces and it's going to test your patience at times.
"And fiddly hasn't really been my forte over the years, but I'm hopefully going to make it my forte this week."
The 33-year-old looked extremely comfortable around the Old Course, following an opening birdie with three more back to back on 5, 6 and 7 to reach the turn in 32.
His one dropped shot came on 14 when a chip shot in front of the greenside bunker took a nasty bounce and he failed to get down in two putts from distance.
"Yeah, fantastic start," smiled McIlroy. "Just sort of what you hope will happen when you're starting off your week.
"I came in here playing well, and I've played this golf course well over the years.
"So I knew if I just went out there and played my game and stuck to my game plan, that something like this was possible.
"Yeah, I did everything that you're supposed to do around St Andrews. I birdied the holes that are birdieable.
"And I made pars at the holes where you're sort of looking to make a par and move to the next tee, and didn't really put myself out of position too much.
"So, yeah, overall really pleased. It's another good start at a major - three in a row for me now.
"And looking forward to the next few days."
READ MORE: Bunkered - Ireland's St Andrews hopefuls on the Open pitfalls that lie ahead
Meanwhile, Shane Lowry dug himself out of a big hole early in his round to post a level par 72.
Lowry double bogeyed after finding a gorse bush when he steered his drive too far to the right on the 2nd.
The 2019 champion was forced to take a penalty drop and three-putted on the green.
He also dropped a shot on the fourth but then fought back admirably, starting the recovery on the par-five 5th and also birdieing 7 before finding two more birdies on the back nine to go with another dropped shot on 13.
Nevertheless Lowry was disappointed afterwards not to have finished two under par after missing several birdie chances on his back nine, including a good chance on 18.
"I got off to the worst possible start and fought back well," Lowry said.
"It would have been really, really nice to hole that putt on the last.
"After a bad tee shot on the second, I didn't really do much wrong after that. Played pretty good for the rest of the day. I'm pretty happy with how I'm playing.
"I know I'm eight behind, but it's a pretty good store score out there today. It's very, very tricky."
Seamus Power also had his struggles and finished a shot worse off and over par for his round.
Playing in his first Open Championship, the Waterford man knocked in a nice birdie on the first, then bogeyed the next after three-putting.
"It was kind of a funny story, it was kind of like that then for the rest of the day, kind of doing some good things and not getting much reward for it," reflected the 35-year-old.
"It's like that, this course, the way it's playing. Going to try to stay patient and hopefully something breaks my way tomorrow."
He saw a lot of his good work undone at the reachable par-4 12th hole when he found big trouble in a bunker close to the green.
"Yeah, it was strange," said Power. "I did a lot of good stuff, but I just hit it in one bunker on 12, probably cost me two and a half, three shots, and then a couple of three-putts.
"I mean, they were long, long distance, but that's kind of the difference between shooting one over and maybe three, four under for the round.
"Days you have a good score, you're going to miss the bunkers. Days you don't, you're going to hit it right in."
Two-time Open champion Padraig Harrington as well as major debutants David Carey and Ronan Mullarney are early in their opening rounds.
Darren Clarke, the 2012 winner, made the turn in 41 after making five bogeys.
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