LINING up his drive on the 18th tee, Graeme Storm would not have been prepared for what was about to follow. Eight years after having a minor part to play in an Open best remembered for 20 minutes of madness from a Frenchman, this Englishman did his level best to repeat the show.

Having delivered a fine drive to the centre of the final fairway, Storm must have been reasonably confident of striking his second shot over the infamous Barry Burn and on to the appealing green in front of the Carnoustie Hotel.

Instead, just like the embarrassment felt by Jean van de Velde in 1999, the situation descended into a comic strip, although the North-East's only representative at this year's Championship was in no mood for laughing.

There may not have been the same prize at stake when Storm witnessed his ball trickle into the Burn, after bouncing up off the footbridge and crashing off the grandstand by the side of the 18th green. He would claim the frustration he felt, however, was on a par.

"Was there any chance of me taking off my shoes, rolling up my trousers and lowering myself into the Barry Burn to try to save a shot?" said Storm, referring to the crazy antics of Van de Velde that cost him the Claret Jug when he dropped into the water. "No."

His frank response was uttered without any hint of humour as he stood outside the scorer's hut, after knowing he had failed to achieve what he had hoped for on day one at Carnoustie.

After holding, and losing, a lengthy debate with the match official about the location of his drop shot, Storm duly stepped up with his wedge and attempted to save face by chipping as close to the pin as possible. Instead his fourth shot dropped straight into the greenside bunker.

The pockets of spectators were not on the same scale as those who witnessed Van de Velde's misadventures, although there were similar sounds of 'Oooh' then 'Ahhh' when Storm's day ended in the worst possible fashion. A triple bogey and a seven over par finish.

Perhaps it would have been even worse for Storm, who made the cut at the St Andrews Open in 2005, to accept had he not already inflicted most of the damage on his round himself. Largely, his failings had nothing to do with the elements or the course, just a lack of confidence in his own technique.

From the outset his driving was slightly wayward, although worse was to follow and he ended up finding just seven of the 15 fairways.

Compare that record to early pace-setters Paul McGinley and Tiger Woods, both of whom hit 12 fairways, and it is easy to see why things went so horribly wrong for the man from Hartlepool.

Perhaps his first drive of the day into the light rough on the right, at 6.41am and carried out in heavy rain and cold conditions, set the tone, even if he looked in good shape through the first four holes.

Having opened with two pars, the 29-year-old attempted to knock the pin situated less than 15 feet from Jockie's Burn at the front of the third green. But, despite looking fine, the backspin took Storm back into the water for his first bogey.

"My second shot ballooned a little and spun back into the water. If it had stayed up there I'm confident I would have made birdie. I could have been two under after four and things would have been entirely different," he said.

Having responded emphatically with a birdie achieved courtesy of a stunning 12-foot putt that pulled him back to level par, he could have gone on from there.

But rarely did he show the level of consistency from the tee that has earned a career high ranking of ninth in the European Tour Order of Merit this season and a first title.

On a course like Carnoustie, billed in its programme literature as 'the most challenging course in the world', there is little room for manoeuvre, although the knee-length rough it was infamous for in 1999 has been trimmed and the swirling winds rarely caused a problem.

Nevertheless when Storm decided to test the rough of 2007 out at the fifth it represented the start of his troubles. In driving rain, he had to blast out from long rough using a six iron and was unable to save par.

But, given the way he clawed his way back at the fourth, there was always likely to be a chance for him to do so again. Instead, just before the turn, it became clear that the former British Amateur champion was losing his composure.

There aren't too many pine trees around this links course, although somehow Storm ended up in among them at the ninth and succumbed to the first of three further bogeys before the close - and that was before his attempt to recreate Van de Velde's triple-bogey at the last.

Regularly he shook his head, questioning his swing and his style, while his putting remained up there with the leaders - never three-putting and taking a steady 28 shots on the greens through 18 holes.

Today, with a couple of hours extra in bed, Storm will be looking to take solace from a much-needed improvement on his score of seven under. He knows, though, that playing tomorrow is just about out of reach.

The second Open at the gruelling Carnoustie of his career may not have left him taking the Ben Hogan route and refusing to return - as the American did after winning here 53 years ago - but he is sure to have turned a few times in his bed last night.