Day 1 at the 142nd Open Championship at Muirfield saw PGA Tour veteran Zach Johnson take an early lead on a relatively calm, sunshine-filled day where many players struggled to handle the course’s firm and lightning-fast conditions.

Johnson has the outright lead after a 5-under round of 66. At one point, India’s Shiv Kapur had the solo lear at 6-under after making birdies on six of his first seven holes, but he fell back to 3 under, two behind Johnson.

Like Kapur, Johnson got down to business early with three birdies and an eagle during the first seven holes. It was an exceptional start for last week’s runner up in the John Deere Classic, who only had one bogey on his card in Round 1.

It seems as though Johnson has put the disappointment of losing in a four-hole playoff at the John Deere behind him and used it to motivate him this week.

“I’m certainly somewhat confident in what I’m doing, confident in my routines. I’m confident in my walk out there,” Johnson said. “I’m confident in my lines. And that’s what I’m trying to remember from last week.… It wasn’t like there’s a whole lot of negative there. If anything, there’s certainly more positives last week than negatives.”

Defending champion Ernie Els, who is playing in his 22nd Open Championship, finished with a 3-over 74. Els will have a long fight ahead of him as he looks to become only the seventh player with consecutive Open Championship victories.

Tiger Woods shot a 2-under 69 amidst a flurry of birdies and bogies.

Woods’ opening hole began with a hooked tee-shot, where he subsequently took an “unplayable” lie in the hip-high grass, worth one-stroke. He bounced back from the early bogey to climb back into red figures, placing himself comfortably on the second page of the leaderboard.

Click here to read more about Woods’ opening round.

Spaniard Cabrera-Bello finished his day with little disappointment as he claimed six birdies with only two bogies. This is his second Open appearance and he played down the thought of being taking the lead and winning the Open Championship.

“It’s only the first day, I have not even thought about winning,” he said. “It would be a huge dream but it’s not something that I am thinking about or have set as a goal at the minute.”

Finishing right behind Cabrera-Bello was 1998 Open champion Mark O’Meara, who carded a 4-under 67 and finds himself one back of Johnson.

It’s hard to believe, but O’Meara was winless on Tour following his Open win back in 1998. At 56 and now a regular on the Champions Tour, O’Meara feels he can benefit from his experiences.

“I didn’t feel like I was 56 years old out there; I felt like I was 32,” he said. “I’m not saying that one round makes a tournament, because it doesn’t. I’ve done this many times. I’ve been here. But it’s nice to have played well.”

Spieth, the 19-year-old that edged Johnson in the playoff last week to earn a spot in this week’s major on top of his historic first Tour victory, continued his veteran-like play with a 69 in his first Open Championship appearance. When asked about how he’d fare in the blistery Scotland breeze, Spieth answered, “I’ll be OK, I’m from Texas.”

Miguel-Angel Jimenez, a fixture of the Open Championship, once again finds himself on the leaderboard with a 3-under 68, tied with Tom Lehman, Shiv Kapur and a younger crowd of Brandt Snedeker and Dustin Johnson.

Coming off his dramatic first win overseas in Scotland last week, Phil Mickelson finds himself in prime position after a 2-under par 69, only 3 strokes behind the leader.

A glorious day in Scotland was not without grimaces and groans. Ian Poulter (72) and Stewart Cink (72) took to Twitter to voice their concerns about a select few pin placements (Click here to read the full story).

Charl Schwartzel didn’t wait for a post-round tweet to reveal his frustrations. On No. 13, the typically stoic Charl Schwartzel uncharacteristically lashed his 6 iron into the ground after his shot squirted right out of the fescue, snapping the club in half.

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The golf gods rewarded him with good karma, however, as he holed out from the bunker on No. 18 for birdie en route to a 4-over par 75.

The golf gods weren’t as kind to Rory McIlroy, as he likely shot himself out of the tournament with an opening round 79 (Click here to read more about McIlroy’s struggles).

With dry conditions and temperatures in the low to mid 70s expected, McIlroy and the rest of the field will have to use this first round at Muirfield as a template for the rest of the championship.

GolfWRX Writer Andrew Tursky contributed to this story.