A tall, imposing figure shot a six-under-par 66 to sweep clear of the field in the first round of the 129th British Open while shadows lengthened on the Old Course here yesterday. But the colour of his skin and his substantial frame contrasted with those of the anticipated leader as dry, fast-running conditions brought some sparkling scores, with a small but talented Irish contingent very much to the fore.

Ernie Els didn't quite overshadow Tiger Woods, who was only a stroke behind in a share of second place. Still, the early prominence of the two-time US Open champion had the effect of dampening any wild notions of a victory parade for the world number one.

Padraig Harrington (68), Christy O'Connor Jnr and Paul McGinley both on 69, and Darren Clarke with a 70, delivered the best opening rounds from the Irish in recent decades. In fact McGinley was tied for the lead on four under par after a birdie on the short 11th and Harrington held the lead on his own on six under.

Their target now must be to rival the overall performances at Turnberry in 1994, when David Feherty (tied fourth) and Ronan Rafferty (tied 11th), challenged Nick Price for the title.

For his part, Woods, in a bogey-free round, had us thinking that championship golf shouldn't be this easy. Nor should it be, except that the odds-on favourite has so much talent in reserve that he can produce scores of admirable quality almost on demand.

In his quest for a victory which would make him the youngest winner of all four major titles, he displayed wonderful maturity, aware that that while he couldn't win the championship on the opening day he could deeply wound his chances if he did not show due care. So it was that eight successive pars were patiently carved out of bone-hard terrain before he cut loose to be five under for the last 10 holes.

His work done shortly after lunch, Woods departed for the practice ground "to try and get my swing place a little better". Before we had time to consider such notions as improving on perfection, he added: "I was hanging a bit on my left side, maybe because of the wind."

Then they challenged his place at the top. Ian Garbutt got to seven under par after 12 but slipped back to a 68 and American left-hander Steve Flesch was six under with three to play before dropping back with a bogey at the 16th.

Els, however, bucked the trend by actually improving over the finishing holes.

It came as no surprise that Harrington led the Irish charge, in that it would be difficult to imagine a course more suited to his game, especially in the latitude it affords off the tee. And even with the greens some way below top quality, a splendid short game extracted the stunning return of five birdies in the first seven holes, four of them in-a-row from the fourth.

In fact he went on to lead the championship on his own at six under par, after driving the green at the 314-yard 12th for a two-putt birdie. All of which accounted for his irritation at not doing better than a 68, considering he had the long 14th still to play at that stage.

Ironically, his trusty blade let him down, with three-putts at the 13th and from off the left side of the 17th, both for bogeys. And he failed to give himself a reasonable birdie chance at the 14th, by taking a long, safe line down the left, rather than a potentially more productive, albeit somewhat dangerous, route down the right.

"I'm relatively pleased with my score but slightly unhappy with how I got it," said the Dubliner afterwards. "At six under, I had the chance of adding a few more but I became defensive. Sure, I saw what Tiger was doing but I didn't dwell on it, nor on the fact that I had the lead. I just found myself trying to protect my score which was wrong. It was too early for that."

Even with those back-nine errors, however, the course didn't really owe Harrington anything, insofar as he sank birdie putts of 35 feet at the seventh and 20 feet at the first. And other leading challengers suffered more grievously on the notorious 17th, notably Robert Karlsson who had an eight, and Notah Begay who carded a seven en route to a 69.

Begay, who had back-to-back victories on the USPGA Tour in late June and early this month, led the field by two strokes on five under after an eagle-two on the 12th, where he holed a 53-yard pitch. And he got to six under on the long 14th.

Then came a rather interesting seven at the 17th, where, after driving into rough, he pulled a nine-iron third shot into the Swilken Burn. He then dipped his feet in the water and unlike a familiar Frenchman, went on to play the ball back onto terra firma. The American later admitted with admirable candour: "I just tried to avoid the bunker as much as I could and in doing so, I kept going left until I ran out of grass."

Down the last, a visit to the Valley of Sin led to a closing bogey. Which proved that even in ideal conditions, the Old Course found a way of defending itself.

Only Els broke down those last-ditch defences. With a wonderful six-iron of 184 yards out of rough on the 17th, he left the ball six feet from the pin for a very rare birdie indeed. And this time, the advantage was retained through a two-putt par at the last.

"When you see Tiger at five under before you even start, you know your work is cut out," he said. "But if he beats me by 15 (as he did at Pebble Beach last month) from here, there's going to be an enquiry."

Let battle commence.