2035: What a finish by David Horsey - birdie, eagle, birdie. It lifts him up to +4 and tied 16th. I've backed this little-known links specialist to make the top 10 so that ends my day on an up note.

2030: The weather could still play a massive part in this Open so here's the forecast for Saturday. Cloudy with some showers in the morning but dying away, with lengthening sunny spells. Winds NW 30 gust 40mph, occasionally 35 gust 45mph. If those winds really are at the top end of the forecast, this could be a real war of attrition tomorrow.

2025: A few words from our leader KJ Choi: "The reason I like to play the links course is because when I stand on the tee box, you know, I can see everything. It just comes well into my eye. It's very easy for me to set a target and just go with it. I think my swing is very good this week, very powerful, simple." His English has improved down the years but still leads to the odd confusing quote such as: "I think the key thing right now is to maintain my body condition and try to finish it out." Hmmmm. I can think of some better "key things", such as the fact that Andy Prodger, who caddied when Nick Faldo won the Open, is on Choi's bag. KJ agrees and says: "Andy is like my big brother. He's like an uncle at times." Not bad having two relatives caddying for you I guess.

2005: The latest betting shows KJ Choi at 13/2 favourite with Jim Furyk and Padraig Harrington tied at 11/1. It's 25/1 that Greg Norman pulls off a fairytale win while Sergio, favourite at the start of the day, is out to 20s. Ian Poulter is 28s after finishing four back.

2000: English amateur Chris Wood "did a Justin Rose" by chipping in at the last today to comfortably make the cut on +5. His dad is caddying for him while his mum and auntie are also at Birkdale. His sister seems to be letting the side though as she's travelling around Europe. Asked by a reporter if she's rung up to find out how he's getting on, Wood replied: "She sent a text the other day saying 'are you at that Open thingy yet'.

1930: I thought as much. I've just found my pre-Open notes with the list of who I would be tipping. From bottom to top it reads Jim Furyk, Alex Cejka, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Hunter Mahan, Boo Weekley and scribbled out at the top, replaced by Steve Stricker, is the name KJ Choi! Aggghhhhhhh!

1855: KJ Choi drains his birdie putt at 18 and leads the Open outright at one-under. Re-writes on the Norman story currently being bashed out all around me.

1840: Plenty of anxious press watching to see if KJ Choi birdies the final hole. If he does he'll lead the tournament on his own and wreck the excellent Greg Norman story.

1825: Attendance figures news: Today's crowd was 44,500, which beats the 1998 Friday figure by 500. Thursday's crowd of 36,500 also beat Thursday's number by 500. I'll give you Saturday's figure shortly when I've found out what the 1998 Saturday crowd was and added 500 to it.

1820: Three Open winners are currently in the top five although who would have had the Norman-Duval-Harrington tricast?

1805: As Jim Furyk is now carrying my hopes all on his own let's listen to what he had to say when interviewed greenside: "The round was solid, I hit the ball in the fairway quite often and put the ball on the green. By the end of the round I knocked in some good putts, played well down the stretch, and felt a lot more relaxed out there with the putter in my hand, and I hit a lot of good, solid putts today." I like the putter comments as it's that part of the game that was worrying me slightly before the tournament. He took 33 yesterday and 30 today so if he can continue the downward trend Furyk must have every chance.

1745: Harrington has just eagled the 17th so maybe Mahan can follow suit? The three gets the Irishman to +3 and just three off the lead.

1744: KJ Choi is currently tied second and I'm really starting to kick myself that I didn't back him at 100/1.

1740: Mahan bogeys the 16th. So just an eagle-birdie finish needed now then!

1725: Time for a tips update. The cut line is currently set at +8 so Miguel Angel Jimenez (+14) and Alex Cejka (+10) are going home. It's game over for Boo Weekley too as he's +13 after 10. Hunter Mahan? He's hanging in there at level par today but yesterday's 80 means he's still 10 over. It looks as if he'll need two birdies in his last three holes to get into the weekend. Just maybe one will be enough. But, hey, Steve Stricker has made it at +8 which makes him tied 53rd at present. So, basically, it's a train wreck apart from good old Jim Furyk who is tied fourth at +2.

1705: Pelle Edberg is a real strutter around the course and I can't stop thinking that he'd make a good frontman in a rock group which perhaps featured Johan Edfors on lead guitar, Peter Hanson on bass and Freddie Jacobson bashing away Keith Moon-like on drums.

1700: Without doubt, this is the best weather of the week and there were times in the last 90 minutes when the wind dropped to a gentle breeze. I started by watching the David Duval group and the 2001 Open champ made an excellent start by rolling in a 15 footer for birdie on the opening hole. That got him to +2 for the tournament and into a tie for third. It seems the confident noises Duval was making when I spent 10 or so minutes listening to him being interviewed yesterday were justified as he played some solid golf over the next few holes, following the birdie with four straight pars. After watching Duval's birdie at the first, I looked down the fairway to see the colour of Pelle Edberg's headband. My mate, JB, calls it as blue. Great I've won my bet. But as he approaches, it's turquoise at best and when he finally comes into full view it's clearly green. Harry is reprieved. Edberg misses a small par putt and then fails to convert an excellent birdie chance at three. We then watch farcical seens at the fifth. Simon Khan hits a wayward shot right and what follows is one of the worst searches for a ball I've ever seen. The crowd across the fairway try to usher the players, caddies and marshals to the place where the ball dropped but they just keep colliding into each other like the Keystone Kops. Amateur Thomas Sherreard, playing alongside Edberg in the group behind, loses patience and whacks his tee-shot into the deep rough, just missing the search party, while David Frost is so confused he keeps ducking when the crowd are actually telling him to look to his left for the lost ball. Edberg then hits his tee-shot into the deep stuff and I decide it's time to come back in. It's somewhat of a surprise therefore to see that Edberg and Sherreard both birdied the hole. How did that happen? On the walk in, Stuart Appleby is on the practice putting green. To my chagrin, it was his putting which went to pieces over the last 36 holes of the US Open when he led at halfway so perhaps he's trying to avoid a similar fate here. He's still very much in this tournament at +3 which currently has him in 10th place.

1500: Okay, I'm off outside to watch David Duval, who tees off at 3.04, and Premier Inn pal Pelle Edberg, who goes off at 3.15. I've just had a wager with Harry The Hat on the colour of Pelle's headband. I've gone blue, Harry's gone yellow.

1445: Groans from the press, the type after hearing that an old lady has had a fall, as veteran Tom Watson misses a short putt.

1440: Just been checking some background info on Greg Norman's new wife Chris Evert and it's fair to say she likes a sportsman. First there was the "love match" with former Wimbeldon champ Jimmy Connors and before she tied the knot with British tennis player John Lloyd she'd been romantically linked to another ace with a big forehand, Vitas Gerulaitis. Then she married a downhill skier. Other romantic links were to Burt Reynolds, Adam Faith and Don Estelle from It Ain't Half Hot Mum. Okay, the last one's not true but the rest were genuine.

1430: Sergio finishes with a 73 after missing a sitter at the last. A decent round and he's sat on the leaders' shoulders at five over although he's not favourite anymore. The new market leader, at 8/1, is none other than 25-1 pre-tournament tip Jim Furyk. Where are the doubters now, eh? To quote Delia: "Where are you?... Where are you?"

1425: Padraig (bored at work) in Ireland writes: "Please keep up the self indulgence, for all of us self indulgent punters. All the best commentators are self indulgent, yourself, Alliss, Johnny Miller and we have a genius here in Ireland who commentates on GAA (legal tribal warfare) by the name of Micháel O'Muircheartaig (tenner if you can pronounce it)." Er, thanks Padraig. A bit strange to be compared to Peter Alliss. Next time I see a dog rolling in the hay I'll have to come out with something like "Ahhhh, the good life."

1410: Jimenez finishes birdie-par. The only trouble is that he'd played his previous 16 holes in an idiotic 13 over. Absolutely woeful. He joins the "Tindall 80 club" - open to those tips who shoot 80 or higher this week - and which now boasts three members.

1400: Remember the Andre Previn sketch on Morecambe and Wise when Eric, after making a din on the piano, claims that "I am playing all the right notes... but not necessarily in the right order." I feel like that with my golf betting this year. I'm backing the right players, but not necessarily in the right tournaments - second-placed Camilo Villegas, who I backed at 150s in the US Open without success, being the latest example.

1340: The cut line is currently at +7 but in this weather it will surely climb to +8 as the afternoon continues. I hope it does as that would get Steve Stricker into the weekend right on the number after he played his last 12 holes in two-under.

1330: Just been outside for half an hour. The weather is foul with rain now the strongest cause of misery as the winds aren't too bad. I'd arranged to meet a friend, JB, and needed a surprising amount of time to find him given that he's about eight feet tall. John lives in Liverpool and told me yesterday that the local train broke down and he had to get a shuttle bus from Formby to the course, delaying his arrival by over an hour. He spent the journey talking to a man from Zimbabwe whose main revelation wasn't about the political situation under Mugabe, rather the fact that Mark McNulty's mum made his wedding cake. As I walked back into the press tent, I stuck my ahead into the interview room - I could do no more than that as every single seat was taken. Why? The man behind the microphone was Greg Norman. He is the big story so far this week as he continues to roll back the years and the press are loving it.

1235: Fairytale stuff. Norman drains a big par putt at 18 and has the clubhouse lead at level par. With the weather the way it is, there's a golden chance he'll still be in front at halfway.

1212: Amazing. Villegas knocks in his birdie putt from the edge of the green to shoot a stunning 65. Astonishingly, he closed with five straight birdies and is now the clubhouse leader on +1. Playing partner Jim Furyk trickles in his par putt for a solid 71 and he joins Mediate and McDowell on two over 142. The American is right in the hunt, which is more than can be said for the other tips.

1207: Villegas comes within a whisker of a 64 as his second to 18 from deep rough hits the pin and rebounds off the green. Harry The Hat, sat next to me, nearly has a heart attack as he'd laid 64 as the lowest round for a hefty sum.

1155: Camilo Villegas has put together an amazing stretch of four straight birdies to climb all the way back to +2. Like Norman, the young Colombian has been backed at the maximum 999/1 at Betfair and he's now just 16/1 in places.

1155: KT writes: "Watching here in Alexandria, Virginia (burb of Wash DC). No TV coverage until 7am. Is Sergio still dating Greg Norman's daughter? if so, isn't that the oldest trick in the book? Letting your future father-in-law beat you at sport?" Would have been a great story wouldn't it, especially if Norman and Garcia were paired together in the final group on Sunday. Unfortunately, Sergio only dated Morgan Leigh Norman for a few months and they split up a while ago. There's a picture of them together on google with Sergio dressed in a terrible white dinner jacket and red dickie bow (type in Garcia Greg Norman's Daughter on google and look at the second story down).

1138: I really can't believe Miguel Angel Jimenez's collapse today. He's played his opening nine holes in eight over and is completely out of it.

1130: Norman is now trading as short as 12/1 with some bookies. Looking at Betfair he's been backed at the maximum 999/1 with £1,845 being traded at that price. Congratulations if you got him at those massive odds.

1115: Leader Greg Norman didn't play in the 1998 Open at Birkdale but did feature in 1991 when a final round 66 saw him finish ninth while he was 19th here in 1983 after closing with a 67. He has some good memories of this place therefore.

1105: Imagine if you'd had a bet on someone just two shots off the lead at halfway and they broke their leg during the third round. Sounds ridiculous but it happened at Birkdale back in 1991. The man in question was Sky commentator Richard Boxall, who had shot 71-69 to put himself right in the hunt. Boxall had felt twinges down his leg all week but didn't think in a million years that it would snap whilst hitting his shot on the ninth tee. I bought the video of the 1991 Open at Birkdale from e-bay the other week and watched Boxy rolling around in agony after it had happened. Not a pretty sight. The bizarre but fortunate thing was that an orthopaedic surgeon was watching and was quickly on the scene before an ambulance took him away.

1045: Greg Norman rolls in a par putt at 11 to remain one-shot clear. W Munners has just e-mailed in to say: "The Shark should have married Chris Evert 25 years ago! She was the missing link." A bit harsh. She was quite a looker back then I thought. Google adds another twist: "The horse Chris Evert went on to win the 1974 U.S. Filly Triple Crown." Might have to check that one with Brough Scott. By the way, the Brough Scott Appreciation Society on Facebook has 38 members and pictures include Brough looking the worse for wear whilst necking back a string of lagers in the Caribbean and some students posing in front of his giant cardboard face.

1035: What's happening to Miguel Angel Jimenez, the 45-1 headline tip? Don't ask. He's started bogey, bogey, par, bogey, double bogey and is down to tied 79th.

1030: Furyk bogeys the long par 11th but so far today the par four is playing to an average of 5.08 so no damage done. And Jim shakes it off anyway by making birdie at the par three 12th and he's now up to tied third.

< B>1020: It seems I misled you about England's Peter Appleyard. When his name popped up on the leaderboard yesterday I looked him up in the official Open media guide and found out that he was a past winner of the Birkdale goblet, so knew this course well, and his uncle, David Herd, played football for Arsenal and Manchester United. However, the PA's Mark Garrod has just come over to say that the guide is wrong and those player notes actually refer to Jamie Howarth. Apologies for any distress caused to the families involved. I've actually just googled Peter Appleyard and apparently he's "acknowledged to be one of the world's five top vibraphonists". Just a hunch, but I reckon they've got the wrong fella too.

1015: Despite the hideous weather, 36,500 spectators turned up at Royal Birkdale yesterday - that's 500 more than the last Open held here in 1998. The practice days figures were also better - 40,500 in 2008 compared to 37,000 in 1998.

1010: David writes: "I'd quite like the SERGIO shirt wearing fans in the picture to switch about today so they spell ORGIES, that would be amusing." Lovely stuff.

1010: Peter Edwards writes: "Stumbled across your blog last night and thought it was a load of self-indulgent crap." Always one bad apple isn't there. Some people are just rude.

1005: Steve Bradley writes: "Hello Dave. Excellent stuff on the blog, loved the Lenny Henry 'OK' gag yesterday. Just coming up to 4pm over here in the sweltering heat of Manila and will be watching live later on ESPN. Anyway, here's hoping for a good show from our very own Angelo Que, he will be used to the rain that's for sure." Yep, keep the praise coming. To be honest, it's absolutely justified.

1000: Phil from Chester writes: "Dave, I really enjoyed your blog last night. You captured the drama and ups and downs of a fascinating first day of action. I felt your pain over Mahan and Weekley, having blown my two free bets on them, but hopefully farmer Jim and Miguel Angel can go close. Putting aside the punting though (always difficult to do), I really hope Westwood can win. As you know, he played in the very worst of the weather yesterday and after such a terrible start, he showed real character and bottle to put together a half decent score. To see his ball literally blown off the green must have been so disheartening. He kept control of his emotions and game, and that was the performance of an Open winner. Hopefully he'll now return three sub-par rounds and pick up the Claret Jug on Sunday evening. Keep up the great work and entertainment." Yes, Phil, everything you say is absolutely spot on :)

0950: Midway through breakfast, Furyk popped in a birdie at eight and that got him back to +1 after a bogey at the extremely difficult par four sixth. With Mediate double bogeying 11, Jimbo is now just a shot off the lead.

0945: Overdid it. Full English on the back of a 10.45pm Scampi+Chips last night = bloated stomach.

0905: Five solid pars from Jim Furyk keeps him at +1 and in a tie for fifth.

0900: Just asked Brough Scott if he's had a bet this week - perhaps not a good time as he was putting his contact lenses in. He hasn't, as it happens, although he wished he'd backed Harrington when he drifted to 70 at Betfair. Really nice bloke.

0840: It will be interesting to see who caddies for Mark Calcavecchia today. Calc's wife Brenda - described as a "glamorous blonde" - normally does the job but there was no sign of her yesterday and the 1989 Open champ appeared on the first tee with a face like thunder, sparking rumours that she'd taken a look at the weather and done one. A local caddy had to step in and a furious Calcavecchia walked off with a 76.

< P>0830: It's 1986 again. Greg Norman leads the Open. Maybe Liverpool FC can do the double. The Great White Shark is now the only man under par after early bogeys for Mediate at the fifth, McDowell at the second and Allenby at the first.

0825: Here comes the rain! Just stuck my head outside and it's started to drizzle. Feels pretty cold too. The wind is really swirling as well with the flags on top of the clubhouse blowing in different directions. Adam Scott can't quite decide what to hit on the opening hole but goes with an iron and makes his par.

0820: Don't forget, you can write a comment in the bottom of this page or contact me with your Open thoughts at daveattheopen@hotmail.co.uk. And be as honest as you like.

0810: It was a very mixed day for my tips yesterday, with Jim Furyk (+1) and Miguel Angel Jimenez (+2) saving the day after some miserable efforts from the rest. Furyk is already out today and has started with two solid pars to remain at one over, just two off the lead.

0805: McDowell has dropped out of the lead following a bogey at two but Van de Velde is up to seventh after a birdie at seven takes him to -2 for his round and +1 overall. What a story that would be if he put his Carnoustie demons to rest. Was there any hint of him playing well this week? Not really. Although he came through qualifying a fortnight ago, he played in last week's Scottish Open and shot 75-77 to miss the cut by a mile. The Frenchman has been sidelined by a problem finally diagnosed as an ME-type virus so hadn't played any competitive golf in 2008 prior to those two events. He'd also missed the cut at Birkdale in 1991 so his performance so far this week is a welcome surprise.

0800: Another weather update. Harry has just been talking to a man from the R&A who said the heavy stormy weather predicted for Saturday might actually blow through tonight.

0750: So what about the weather for the rest of the day? Here's the in-depth forecast I've just picked up:

Now until 1000: Cloudy with outbreaks of rain although some heavier showers at times (Wind SW 20 gust 25mph)

1000-1400: Cloudy with outbreaks of rain, some heavier showers at times (Wind SW 22 gust 28mph)

1400-1800: Cloudy with outbreaks of mainly light rain or drizzle (Wind SW 25 gust 30mph)

1800-2000: Cloudy with rain at times, some heavy showers at times later (Wind SW 30 gust 35mph)

Saturday: Blustery showers through the morning but becoming less frequent in the afternoon. (Wind NW 30mph gust 40, perhaps 45mph)

Sunday: Perhaps a shower at first but mainly dry with sunny intervals (Wind NW 25 gust 35mph easing in the afternoon to 15 gust 20mph).

So, in anyone's language, that's pretty miserable. It doesn't look good though for those playing catch-up as the better weekend weather is set to be better in the afternoon when the leaders go out.

0740: Another of the joint leaders, Graeme McDowell, is also under way and he too has made a par four at the opening hole.

0735: You won't get any better than 8/1 about Sergio Garcia winning this week following his steady two-over 72 in round one. The Spaniard goes out at 0920 this morning.

0730: Good morning from a..... dry Birkdale. Yes, the good news is that it's not raining although I'll add the caveat, yet. The winds are fairly modest at around 10mph although there are some heavier gusts occasionally which will make club selection difficult. However, the early starters seem to be making the best of the relatively calm conditions and Jean Van de Velde, who blew victory at Carnoustie in 1999, has played his first four holes in one-under to move to +1 for the tournament and tied for 15th. Rocco Mediate, one of the three co-leaders, is also under way and he's started par-par to stay tied at the top alongside Graeme McDowell and Robert Allenby.