ROYAL Birkdale’s gruelling first hole. It is often described as the most difficult opener on the Open Championship circuit, and Rob Dinwiddie found out why.

With his very first shot of the day at 11.15am, he got his three-ball up and running by striking a driver over the fence and out of bounds to the the right. The red flag went up, Dinwiddie had to reload.

Three off the tee and he even ended up in the rough on the left with that. In the end he was fortunate to end with a double bogey on the 448-yard Par 4. As starts to a second Open Championship appearance go, this was the nightmare any golfer might have.

There have been worse. Just ask Mark O’Meara. The 1998 champion at Royal Birkdale did exactly the same with the very first tee shot almost five hours earlier. O’Meara actually went on to record a quadruple bogey eight, leaving him to quip: “My day was toast and most people hadn’t even had their breakfast.”

Fellow American Bryson DeChambeau racked up a seven among others, just as Tom Watson had done when he opened up his defence of the Claret Jug in 1976; highlighting how the first hole in Southport has always posed problems for even the very best.

If only it was the difficulty of the first that Dinwiddie could put the blame on for his disappointing first round of his second Open outing. No such luck.

However harsh it may seem, the man from County Durham blamed himself after posting a seven-over 77 in West Lancashire, and could be seen shaking his head on the greens on far too many occasions on day one.

“I was rubbish and I’m really frustrated,” said Dinwiddie, who has struggled to make his mark on the Challenge Tour and European Tour this season.

“I played exactly how I have played for the rest of the year. It’s very disappointing because I felt I was making strides towards correcting it.

“I knew I hadn’t completely turned the corner. I had been hitting the ball a little better. But underneath it is frustrating. Clearly the problem is not a quick fix because I have tried to rectify that for a long time.”

Dinwiddie has had swing problems for some time, dating back to when he had issues with his back. The situation led to him losing his European Tour card and he has struggled when he has played this year.

When he qualified for the Open via Final Qualifying at Royal Cinque Ports, though, he had felt things were taking a turn for the better; and that he was finally getting somewhere in his bid to find improvements and a solution.

With the disappointment on his mind from the first tee, Dinwiddie went into the light rough left on the second and followed it up by taking two out of a greenside bunker to record a bogey. He dropped another at the third having knocked a chip from a grassy mound into the nearby bunker.

Five-over through his first three holes and with a mountain to climb. From there on in he actually found greater consistency, albeit on and around the green. He made par at 12 of the remaining holes, going close to a birdie on a couple of occasions with his putter.

Dinwiddie, whose first Open appearance saw him miss the cut at St Andrew’s two years ago, said: “As simple as it is, I am backing out of it and I just cannot stop myself doing it. My putting, my short game, generally, feels alright. But I didn’t hit one good full shot all day, off the tee or second shot. Not one.

“Not one got within ten or 15 yards of what I was trying to do. That’s why I am so angry with myself. I have been fighting the same thing for a long time but I can’t seem to suss it out.

“I will do some practice, enjoy a beer and relax. I have plenty of time to work on things because I don’t tee off until 4pm (the last group) on Friday. I honestly don’t know what to try though.”

An indication of Dinwiddie’s problems away from the green could be seen by the fact he was ranked second with the fewest number of putts (24) taken across the entire field. Only Brooks Koepka (21) had fewer.

He rolled a couple of birdie putts to within inches on 12 and 15, while his bunker shot at 13 almost dropped straight in and that would have provided another sand saving par.

Dinwiddie said: “It was tough, of course it was because it’s the Open and being in the spotlight. But the guys who played first thing definitely had the hardest of the weather, the conditions were better for us.

“I know I had it there, if you hit good shots there was a score out there. I did seem to hit a lot of bunkers. But there’s only a ten yard gap into the green, a ten yard wide area and I was hitting it 20 off line every time! What can I expect? It was just not good shots unfortunately.”

Dinwiddie will still have his family and friends following him around on Friday. His father Alastair, mother Ann and girlfriend Natasha all walked the course – and there was even an appearance from his 15-month old daughter Beatrice.

He would love for them to watch more over the weekend, along with the contingent from Barnard Castle Golf Club who had paid him a visit. He knows just to get under the cut line will be a monumental task in itself.

“I could still shoot five under and do it,” said Dinwiddie, clearly peeved with himself for not being able to show his true quality on such a big stage. “It is not impossible, it’s nice that it isn’t. But I do have to find something special.

“I will be trying to enjoy the Open again in my second round. I am here, so I will be doing that. You do want to play well though and I know I didn’t. I will do a little bit of practice and see if I can find a bit more for the second round, we will see.”