Weather casts shadow over Open

Bad weather is set to be par for the course at the Open with the favourites left twisting in the wind at Royal Birkdale.

Former champion Greg Norman moved into a share of the lead with Rocco Mediate. Norman birdied the first hole to move to one under par.

Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell dropped one shot and is level par, while Robert Allenby dropped two shots to fall back to one over par.

Earlier, world number two Phil Mickelson and former winner Ernie Els, two of the leading contenders expected to profit from the absence of Tiger Woods, fell victim to the conditions. They carded rounds of 79 and 80 respectively to finish well off the pace set by McDowell, Mediate and Allenby at one under par.

Mickelson admitted it would take something "pretty cool" for him to get back into contention, but that could prove difficult given the weather forecast.

Worringly for everybody concerned, the current forecast is for things to get worse before they get better - and if the gusts reach 45mph as predicted, play may have to be suspended because the balls will not stay on the greens.

That has already happened to Lee Westwood on the sixth hole, although the former European number one could afford to be phlegmatic after promptly chipping in on his way to an opening 75.

The only good news could be the unreliability of the forecast, with Royal and Ancient Club (R&A) chief executive Peter Dawson blaming the Met Office for their decision to move just one tee forward by a mere ten yards in the first round.

Dawson did not believe the course was too tough or unfair.

He said: "What gets written on the Claret Jug is how many strokes, not how many under par."

The 499-yard sixth, for example, is listed as a par four, but into the wind Mr Dawson thought the players simply had to treat it as a par five.

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