Eleven of the last 13 Open champions sat inside the top 10 after round one and if that return becomes a dozen from 14, there are two scenarios: popular wins for one of Tommy Fleetwood, Max Homa or Wyndham Clark, or an almighty upset.

Few would've expected a leaderboard packed with solid but not-quite-top-level professionals, the likes of Adrian Otaegui, Emiliano Grillo and Brian Harman. Fewer would've expected amateur Christo Lamprecht to lead the way in the morning. If your natural inclination is to respond with 'it's only Thursday', the same day last year saw five of the world's top 10 in close pursuit of the leader.

It was just a bit of a strange first day. On the face of it, conditions were ideal and yet scoring was difficult. Rickie Fowler and Adam Scott blew up on the final hole. Homa played well in a major. Ryan Fox was the early pace-setter and four or five hours later completed a back-nine 43.

Then, when Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm came to the course, they just sort of did a lot of not much until McIlroy finished strongly to keep in touch.