Two late bogeys took the shine off a very encouraging round for defending Open champion Pádraig Harrington but the Dubliner will be happy with a 74 that leaves him three off the clubhouse lead carded by playing partner Retief Goosen.
Just as encouraging was for the Dubliner was the fact that, despite some "twinges" in practice and a few tentative swings early on, the wrist injury that had threatened his participation at Royal Birkdale improved throughout the round and caused no major problems.
Harrington got underway with Goosen and Justin Leonard in dreadful conditions at 7.58am and failed to hit the first four fairways. Bogeys on the first, fourth and sixth on his way out were compensated for by birdies at the fifth and eighth.
He appeared set for a near flawless back nine until the dropped shots at 17 and 18, after a bogey at 11, forced him from two under to four-over-par, into a tie with Justin Rose and Tom Watson.
Harrington was "happy enough" afterwards that admitted he but got ahead of himself after 16 and thought he had the hard part done, with the final two holes playing downwind.
Wayward tee-shots on the first four fairways were as a result of wariness when releasing the club off his right said but the wrist improved on the back nine and he was perhaps too confident coming in.
"I have a day to rest and I should be better again tomorrow and I haven't played my way out of the tournament," said Harrington afterwards. "I've still something to play for and I've still got 54 holes."
"At the first I struggled to release the club on my right side and I missed a number of shots on the right," the 36-year-old added. "But on the back nine I was much more solid.
"The bad day actually helped because there was no time for me to think too much about the shots. I've just got to try and deal with the problem and thankfully it was okay."
Graeme McDowell, winner of the Scottish Open last weekend, made a steady start and was one-over after nine holes while Philip Walton reached the turn on four-over. Damien McGrane, the only other Irish player in the field in the absence Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley and Rory McIlroy, finished on nine-over.
That was the same mark as three-time major winner Phil Mickelson, who lost his ball in thick rough short of the green at the par-four sixth en route to an ugly triple-bogey seven before signing for a 79.
Birkdale's bad weather claimed an early casualty when former champion Sandy Lyle withdrew after 10 holes.
The 50-year-old Scot, winner in 1985 at Royal St George's, ran up double-bogeys on the seventh and eighth and a triple-bogey on the ninth.
"I'd lost all momentum, my fingers were numb and I couldn't feel the club," said Lyle, who was 11 over par when he quit.
Tournament favourite Sergio Garcia was among the late starters, with weather conditions expected to improve.
