Former Colne Valley Golf Club owner Paul Curry was just one shot behind odds-on favourite Tiger Woods after the first round of the 130th Open Championship.

Curry, who hails from Halstead and now lives in East Bergholt, had a one over par round of 72 on the opening day of the event at Royal Lytham and St Annes.

That leaves him seven shots behind Colin Montgomerie at the top of the leaderboard while Woods, who found himself in no fewer than five sand traps on his way round, recorded a level par 71.

Follow Paul's progress across the weekend by logging on to The open's Offical website at: www.opengolf.com Curry was out in one under par 34. A bogey at the 438-yard par-four second was followed by birdies at two successive par fives, holes six and seven.

After dropping shots at the 11th, 14th and 16th holes, he also had a birdie at the 343-yard 13th to keep himself in contention.

Curry was due to tee off in the second from last group at 4.10pm today (Friday), so he will be one of the last to know if he has made the cut.

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