HOYLAKE, England – A little rain took the fire and fear out of Royal Liverpool. Still intact was the strange nature of the British Open, such as the peculiar path Tiger Woods took toward the top of the leaderboard Thursday.

He started by missing a par putt from 30 inches and finished by making an eagle putt from 25 feet, giving him a 5-under 67 to leave him one shot behind Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland.

Along the way, Woods took two shots to escape a pot bunker, had to bend a shot around a signpost after marshals tried in vain to twist it loose, and hit the fairway the one time he decided to hit driver. That was the 16th hole, and the ball landed in the 17th fairway.

“You can make birdies out there,” Woods said, showing that in a myriad of ways. “And, obviously, guys are doing it.”

McDowell made six of them without losing a shot, and his 66 broke by one shot the course record set by Roberto De Vicenzo in 1967. Then again, that was the last time the British Open came to these forgotten links south of the Mersey River.

And as tidy as his round was, even McDowell had to endure a bizarre moment at the British Open.

He was in a pub Wednesday night when a local lad recognized him, asked for his autograph, then gave him a swing tip.

“He said, ‘You get it pretty laid off at the top, don’t you?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I guess I do.’ He said, ‘Get a bit of work done on that, will you?'” McDowell said. “I was kind of joking with the guys, if I shoot 66, I guess I’ll be wanting to see that guy on the range Friday morning.”

The biggest surprise of all was the change to a crusty course that had caused consternation early in the week. It had been so brown and brittle that the Royal & Ancient asked that two fire engines be allowed inside the gates in case the links caught fire.

Instead, rain showed up overnight and caused a 30-minute delay in the morning because of lingering thunder.

It hardly flooded the century-old course, although it didn’t take long to notice the difference.

“Nobody expected the course to be like this,” Jim Furyk said after his 68. “It’s just a day where you need to post a good number and keep up with everyone else. The biggest change I started seeing was when I fixed a ball mark. I knew the scores would be good then.”