Dustin Johnson was the clubhouse leader on seven-under par after a superb first round left him one shot clear of five players at the Open Championship at St Andrews on Thursday. 

The giant American also stole the spotlight from his compatriot and friend Jordan Spieth, who is chasing an historic third straight major, but is still finely poised two shots back on a blustery day at the Old Course. 

Also in the clubhouse on six-under were Scotland’s 1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie, Australian Jason Day, Retief Goosen of South Africa and American debutant Robert Streb. 

Another American Zach Johnson, the 2007 Masters champion, was going extremely well, lying one shot back and a threat to the outright lead with four holes to play.  

The calm early weather conditions provided the early starters with an opportunity to play attacking golf and the leaderboard was ablaze with players under par as the tournament got underway in front of big crowds. 

– GALLERY: Ten players to watch at The Open
– #360LIVE: The Open – Leaderboard, updates & videos
– The Open: Sport360’s interactive course guide

Former world number one Tiger Woods enjoyed the company of a large slice of those crowds, but the American had another difficult day at the office and is way back, and in danger of missing the cut, on four-over par. 

Also still out on the course were English hope Justin Rose who was four-under through through eight, German veteran Bernhard Langer on three-under as well as 2013 winner Phil Mickelson who began brightly before slipping to one-under.

The players did most of the damage on the easier front nine before the back half of the course hit back to claim the majority of dropped shots.