GRAEME STORM'S Open Championship dream disappeared almost as quickly as the atrocious morning weather at Carnoustie yesterday and he admitted afterwards that he suffered a shocker.

Storm has left himself with a mammoth task if he is to make the cut after carding a depressing 78, seven over par, at the Scottish links yesterday morning.

When he tees off for his second round at 11.52am - along with American Kevin Stadler and Irishman David Higgins - he will do so accepting his tournament is almost certainly already over.

The 29-year-old struggled to reach the peak of his game in the opening round and he managed just one birdie in the cold conditions.

By the time he had reached the turn, sitting two over par and becoming increasingly frustrated, the torrential rain that had made things more difficult for Storm had ceased.

And while that must have been a boost to the rest of the illustrious field, the North-East's sole representative at this year's Open struggled to claw his way back towards level par.

Storm ended up with five bogeys and a triple bogey at the 18th made infamous by the antics of Frenchman Jean van de Velde in 1999.

And, after suffering from such a lack of form at the wrong time, the French Open champion spent much of the afternoon on the driving range working on his swing with coach Ian Rae.

"I was shocking, to be brutally honest," said Storm, whose fears that being drawn out in the early second group could cost him rang true.

"It was cold and wet out there but the conditions had nothing to do with it, even though it's obviously not great when you can't see your shot at the start of your round.

"Now I just want to go into Friday looking to finish as high as I can.

"I have had a good month or so, it's just unfortunate that my run of decent form seems to have run out at the worst time."

Storm started steadily enough. After making par at the first two holes, he was unlucky to make bogey at the 358-yard third when his close approach spun back into Jockie's Burn. He responded well, returning to level par with a birdie at the fourth.

But after finding the infamous Carnoustie rough for the first time and making a second bogey at the fifth, Storm never really recovered.

"I was happy with things at the start," he said. "But from nine onwards I just struggled. I have not been happy all week with my swing.

"I thought I had found something on Wednesday but I clearly haven't. It just didn't happen for me."

Despite his efforts on the range afterwards, Storm still feels his hopes of making the cut have disappeared.

"Making the cut is pretty much impossible from here but I will just see how things go," he said.

"But you never know. Playing the last hole the way I did typifies the way I played the whole round really."