Confident start from the Darren Clarke trio. Sounds like a New Orleans jazz band that.

American Gary Woodland and English debutant Harry Ellis won't be content to let the Northern Irishman lead the music though.

It's a tight start from all three, each pushing their balls slightly right on the edge of the fairway.

Not the easy start one would hope for...

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Darren Clarke, playing alongside young English amateur Harry Ellis, is about to leave the putting green and wander up to the first tee.

The weather has brightened up, although a gutsy wind - whipping in from the Irish Sea - still lingers.

Here are some numbers to strike fear into those about to begin...

Image source, Getty Images

England's Danny Willett drops back off the pace with a bogey on the par-three seventh.

Former Birkdale champion Padraig Harrington and defending champion Henrik Stenson are among the leading names set to start their campaigns in the next hour.

Here's who to follow:

09:25 -2011 Open winnerDarren Clarke

09:36 -2007 & 2008 Open champion Padraig Harrington

09:47 - 2016 winner Henrik Stenson, Players champion Kim Si-woo and world number three Jordan Spieth

09:58 - Olympic champion Justin Rose and 2010 Open winner Louis Oosthuizen

10:09 -US Open championBrooks Koepka, world number two Hideki Matsuyama and England's Tommy Fleetwood

Matt Missons: Considering Ian Poulter almost lost his tour card, he's on fire at the moment!

-2 Poulter (4)

-1 Willett (6), Noren (4)

E Manley (9), Knox (4)

Selected others:+1 Fitzpatrick (5), +3 Wood (10), Lyle (8)

Oh hello! Ian Poulter is turning back the clock. The Englishman drains another lengthy putt for his second birdie of the morning, following that up with another steely glare and aggressive fistpump.

Poults is the early leader!

Image source, Getty Images

Tom Fordyce
Chief sports writer at Royal Birkdale

A grey, blustery morning on the Lancashire coast as the oldest major on arguably its finest course begins to unfurl.

And with an eye to the next four days, absolutely no-one is complaining about the weather: while the forecast has dropped from apocalyptic to merely consistently unpleasant, today's conditions may be as good as we get.

Wales' Stuart Manley said earlier this week he is "living the dream". Why? Because he was getting giddy about making his Major debut at The Open.

And he has made the dream start. A birdie on the par-four sixth - a left-to-right dog-leg which has been the hardest hole on the course in each of the past two Open Championships here - puts him within one of the early lead.

Birdies might be rare here. There were only 10 birdies on the sixth during the whole 2008 Championship.

Jason Dufner is one of the first to strip off. The rounded American is down to his short sleeves on the fourth tee, where we see his unusual pre-shot wiggle. Like a man with a nervous twitch, Dufner jerks his short iron to his right - one, two, three, four times - then launches it greenwards.

Image source, Getty Images

Poor old Mark O'Meara. The man who tamed Birkdale back in 1998, but the course is on a revenge mission.

His card looks like a handkerchief. Bogeys everywhere.

Three bogeys, one double and that stinker of a quadruple on the first leaves the 60-year-old American bottom of the pile.

Ian Poulter is pumped. The Englishman jabs at the warming Lancashire air with a clenched right fist after confidently knocking in a 18-foot birdie putt on the second.

Image source, PA

Sun's out, guns out. Well, they will be shortly. Most players are still wrapped up in waterproof jackets and bobble hats, but they will surely come off in the near future as things warm up at Birkdale.

The cards will start to get hotter too as the weather improves. More red dotted over the leaderboard.

Earlier we asked for your favourite Open memories...

Peter Mills: It has to be Paul Lawrie's 4 iron into 18 at Carnasty to win the play off & the Claret Jug.

Keep 'em coming! Tweet #bbcgolf.

Bold choice of trousers from Ian Poulter after the downpour earlier. Bright white. Must have put them on a 90C wash earlier this week. Hope he's got some stain remover to put in his next wash.

Poulter and his two playing partners - Scotland's Russel Knox and Sweden's world number nine Alex Noren - become the first group to all reach the opening green in regulation.

Poulter and Knox make sure they walk away with pars, while Noren sinks his birdie putt to claim up alongside Danny Willett.

Image source, Getty Images

Joining Danny Willett top of the pops is Thai teen Phachara Khongwatmai. The 18-year-old was ranked outside of the world's top 1000 when he played at Troon last year, but is now up inside the top 250.

He has just sunk a birdie on the par-four fifth, a dog-leg to the right. Khongwatmai was not even born when Mark O'Meara - playing a few holes ahead of him - won here at Birkdale in 1998.

It's sunnypublished at 08:08 British Summer Time 20 July 2017

08:08 BST 20 July 2017

Hang on? Is that sunshine I can see?? Hmm. I think it is...

Birdies have been scarce today. But here's one... and it is Danny Willett who sinks it. The Englishman confidently drills in from seven foot on the par-four second. Willett is in the lead!

Previous Open champions are invited back on an annual basis. Unfortunately, Ian Poulter is not one of them.

The Englishman has been close, but not close enough. Poulter, the 2008 Open Championship runner-up, needed to battle through final qualifying to reach this year's tournament at Royal Birkdale.

And he did exactly that. The 41-year-old has been out on the practice ground early doors, wearing some sort of earpiece.

Think he's pumping himself up with some tunes rather than making an early-morning hands free business call.