Cheers and tears at Portrush on a drama-packed first day

● Highs and lows for Irish contingent ● Holmes fires 66 to take one-shot lead

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It will mainly be remembered as the day when Rory Mcilroy’s dream turned into a nightmare, but there was much more that would have been talked about over pints of Guinness in the local hostelries at the end of a dramatic opening day in the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush.

The rousing reception at just after 6:30am for local resident Darren Clarke as he struck the blow that officially marked the event’s return to the Antrim venue, for instance, and, as the sell-out crowd swelled, the roar was even louder for the likes of Mcilroy, Padraig Harrington and Shane Lowry before reaching a crescendo when Portrush-born Graeme Mcdowell appeared on the first tee just before 9:15am.

That brought a tear to Mcdowell’s eye and, boy, was he feeling dandy until seeing his “special day” end with a nasty sting as five dropped shots in the last four holes left him having to settle for a 73, seven shots off the lead after American JB Holmes came in late in the day with a fiveunder-par opening salvo. “To finish like that hurts a lot,” admitted Mcdowell, having seen the main damage caused by a lost ball at the last leading to a triple-bogey 7.

Under new rules introduced at the start of this year, the time to search for a ball is just three minutes after previously being five. “I thought it was a hell of a rule there until about 12 minutes ago,” joked Mcdowell as he revealed his ball had been found just 12 seconds after the three minutes had elapsed, by which time he was about to head back to the tee.

Earlier, Clarke also thrilled the home fans by bursting out of the blocks to get to threeunder before the 2011 champion had to settle for a 71. “That was pretty much up there,” he said of striking that opening blow. “I probably smiled a little bit more today than I normally do. But I was trying to show my appreciation to all the people around here today.”

After Mcilroy’s nightmare start – and his finish, for that matter – the wave of electricity around the course dropped for a bit and Tiger Woods did nothing to help re-energise the place as he struggled to a 78, a disappointing effort, though probably not unexpected bearing in mind he’d only played three times since The Masters before arriving here.

Holmes, who played a practice round with Mcilroy, started his round with a bogey before quickly bouncing back with a burst of three birdies in the next four holes, adding three more on the back nine. Three years ago, the 37-yearold from Kentucky finished third at Royal Troon but was something of a forgotten man in that event as he ended up 13 shots behind Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson after their thrilling title tussle over the weekend.

“That was a great week for me,” insisted Holmes, a fivetime PGA Tour winner, including the Genesis Open earlier this year. “There were two guys that got really hot that week. Besides that I pretty much had beat the field. So that’s definitely a boost. I learned a lot playing in that event. And you try to take that to the next one.”

Lowry, one of golf’s good guys, would be a hugely popular winner here. The man who won the 2009 Irish Open as an amateur at Baltray is off to a promising start. His 67, which included five birdies and one bogey, was down to a pep talk from Edinburgh man Neil Manchip, the coach