Philip Reidwatched the former European number one show signs of returning to his best

Deep down, Lee Westwood - a more streamlined version, having undergone a fitness and dietary regime - knew the evidence of his results since his last tour win, in the Andalucian Open in May, were at odds with the true state of his game.

Yesterday, he went some way to proving it.

In a first-round 69, one-under, Westwood - who had failed to break 70 in any round of the season's three previous majors - rediscovered much of a game that, once upon a time, had him tagged with that unwanted claim to be "best-player-never-to- win-a-major".

For the former European Tour number one, yesterday could even have been better only for a stumble late on that saw him run up a double-bogey five on the eighth, his penultimate hole, having started on the 10th.

Still, he wasn't complaining. "I've played well since the start of the year, in Asia and Europe. I played steadily, got myself into positions (to win) without capitalising on it. Here, you obviously want to get off to a good start. Sure, three-under would have been better, but you're not doing too much damage with one-under around here. If somebody offered me four 69s, I'd bite their hands off," said Westwood.

Westwood's last engagement prior to coming stateside two weeks ago was to play in a members-guest day at Moyvalley in Co Kildare, before sharing a plane with Darren Clarke over to last week's Bridgestone Invitational at Akron, where a poor third round of 79 saw him fall down the leaderboard and eventually finish tied-22nd.

Yet, the other three rounds had given him some hope heading into this major where, traditionally, he has endured a tough time. Between 2002 and 2004, he missed three straight cuts and his best finish remains tied-15th in 2000.

"My whole, all-round game feels solid, and I've been looking forward to this test," claimed Westwood. "I hit a lot of good shots. The greens aren't as fast as normal for the PGA but, with the contours, they can't afford to make them too slick. You've so many things to contend with here, besides the course. Your gloves get sweaty, and you have to keep everything dry.

You've just got to deal with it."

Westwood dealt very well with the conditions, covering his front nine in 33 with birdies at the 13th and 14th, and getting to three-under with another birdie on the fourth.

His problems came on the par threes. On the sixth, he left his first bunker shot in the trap on the way to a bogey four and, after responding with a birdie on the seventh, he then ran up that double-bogey five on the eighth.

On the eighth, Westwood pushed his two-iron tee-shot into a greenside bunker. "I was guarding against missing the green left . . . you know, the bunkers are a little tricky. The sand is kind of gritty and I was trying not to leave it too far short of the hole and caught it a bit clean and it went 40 feet past."

The error was compounded when he three-putted, but he remarked: "I'm not to worried about that. I'll take anything under par for now."

That tee-shot on the eighth was one of the few loose shots that Westwood had with his irons, as his birdies had come with some exquisite approach play. On the 13th, he hit a six-iron to 18 feet; on the 14th, he hit a four-iron to 12 feet; on the fourth, he had a wedge to four feet and, on the seventh, he hit a wedge to within 12 inches.

And if the promise of much of the round was hit by that late double-bogey - "I suppose I turned a 67 into a 69," he admitted - there was a glint in his eyes as he looked forward to the next three days.

"My game is solid and I'm looking forward to this test.

It's going to examine every aspect of your game, physically and mentally. I like that."