He has a cartoonish name and is best known for a comical mishap, but Woody Austin played a seriously good round of golf at Carnoustie to claim the first round lead in The Senior Open.

The 52-year-old from Florida who played in the Open Championship only twice during a solid career on the US Tour, seems acutely aware, though, that his profile is low outside his native America is not particularly high, so much so that when invited to identify previous career highlights he cut directly to the chase.

“2007 was definitely what you would consider my best season. I think I played better in my rookie year, but the money and all the accolades weren't as big then, so 2007 was definitely my best,” was his assessment.

“I won the Memphis tournament. I almost ran Tiger down at the PGA and finished a shot back. Finished solo second at the PGA. And then I also made the U.S. Presidents Cup team and did a few abnormal things in that that were pretty funny for everybody else.”

Inevitably invited to elaborate he duly delivered, delightfully drily recounting an incident that is well worth a Google for anyone who does not remember it.

“I'm the goofball that fell face-first in the water. That was me. So I'd call that abnormal,” he said, of an attempted recovery shot that went all ‘You’ve been framed’ on him.

This at an event where Jean van de Velde is making his Senior tour debut after turning 50 in May, effectively commemorating the most famous instance of a professional golfer departing dry land when the Frenchman went paddling in the Barry Burn on his way to the triple bogey seven that cost him the Open title in 1999.

Austin showed he had a decent sense of humour at the time, wearing a pair of goggles during his round the following day, but evidently has common cause with van de Velde when it comes to being remembered for a moment’s loss of dignity.

“I hear about it all the time,” he admitted.

“People won't let me hear the end of that. I hear all the time: Where are my goggles; do I still have my goggles; stay away from the water; don't fall in. Especially if I'm anywhere near a lake, if I'm reading a putt, "Oh, don't fall in." Oh, yeah, I hear about it all the time.”

He is, though, at a stage of his life where he wants the emphasis to be on fun.

“I said all along when I came out on the Champions Tour, this was going to be my retirement. I'm not into grinding. I'm not into beating a bunch of balls anymore. I did that for my 40 years. I'm done, so I go home, I play with my kids, I play with my family.

“I own a golf course. I help run the golf course. I try to do the things I need to do there. You'll find me sometimes weeding, jumping on a mower and mowing.

“I hit balls usually maybe Saturday and Sunday the week before I go back out. That's it. That's my preparation. The only time I work on it is when I get to the golf course.

“Obviously this week I've had an extra couple days to work on it, which is nice, because usually, I don't get to the golf course until Wednesday and play the Pro-Am on Thursday. But I'm done with going home and grinding for a week off. I don't need that anymore.”

Perhaps not, but he may find a bit more hard work very rewarding over the next three days if he can maintain the form that took him a shot clear of a tightly packed field at Carnoustie with a round of 68, which could have been even better had an eight foot birdie putt at the final hole not lipped out.

Conditions were sufficiently benign to allow 23 players to break par, seven sharing second place including former Open and US Master champion Mark O’Meara, but the performance of the aforementioned van de Velde went some to summing up just how challenging this course always remains.

“Right now there are not enough quality shots. I know it’s 83 but it could be 75 and I’d still feel the same, that I am not getting pleasure out of it,” he lamented after registering an 11-over-par score that was bettered by all but four of the 144 man field.

“I love this golf course because it’s a tough ask, but if you don’t hit the right shots you are going to hang yourself.

“I can’t remember hitting a worse shot than the 3-iron straight on 16 right into the right bunker. Then I hit a phenomenal bunker shot to three feet.

“That was the lone exceptional shot but it wasn’t enough to recover from the ugly ones. You have to control the distance and I am not doing that or the spin. So right now it’s a difficult task.”