There’s been a heck of a lot of talk about the Zika virus this week but mercifully there was a healthy outbreak of golf at Royal Troon yesterday. Even that big fiery orb in the sky – apparently it’s called a sun or something – decided to break out too. It was time to make hay while it shone even if the sparkling conditions were somewhat alien in these airts.

“I haven't seen a day like this in some time and I've been over here 11 days,” said Phil Mickelson. “The wind is non-existent and the sun is out.”

He might not see it for long here either judging by the forecast but in this shimmering setting, the first round of the 145th Open Championship unravelled. By the day’s end, big Phil was shining brightly as he assumed command with a superbly assembled eight-under 63 which simply overshadowed everything and everyone else. Dustin who?

Mickelson was so hot you almost needed to smear on another layer of the factor 30 lotion. The 46-year-old’s round was a course record at Royal Troon, shaving a stroke off the previous best set by Greg Norman and Tiger Woods, and equalled the record low in the majors. His putt on the last for an all-time low kissed the cup, birled round it a bit and stayed out. The gasps could have whipped up a tsunami on Arran. This was the 28th 63 in major championship history but nobody has dipped below it. Any reason why? “Well, there’s a curse because that ball should have been in,” said Mickelson with a wry grin. “I didn’t believe in the golf gods but I do now.”

It’s a cliché from a different ball game but this, typically, was a day and a game of two halves. Well, it was until Mickelson eased home in 31 as the breeze of the morning lessened as proceedings went on. Birdies had been flying in wild abundance on the front nine. On the inward half, though, they were almost blasted out of the air like grouse on the glorious twelfth. That’s Royal Troon for you.

Haydn Porteous, for instance, raced to the turn in 30 strokes with a rousing run which featured a brace of eagles at the fourth and sixth as he sailed to the top of the leaderboard. His golfing ego suitably massaged, the young South African was given a slap in the face with a back nine of 40. Make your score on the front and hang on grimly coming back? Not in left-hander Mickelson’s mind. “The golf course plays a lot different for me than I think right-handed players,” he noted. “Going out with that slice wind for the first eight or nine holes, I'm more cautious on the birdie holes. I feel much more comfortable on the inward nine, where the wind is kind of a hooked wind off the water for me. I think one of the most important shots of the day was the putt on two, because I got my first birdie and it kind of calmed me down.”

It was something of a charge of the stars and stripes brigade and Mickelson was at its forefront. You half expected him to come romping down the fairways on a mustang. With golfers from the US winning the last six Opens staged here at Royal Troon, the sight of eight Americans in the top 11 already is an ominous sign. Considered, patient, accurate and deadly on the greens? This was a belter of an eight-birdie round from Mickelson. He required just 26 putts – he’d been working hard on that area of his game after leaving a lot short in the Scottish Open last week – but it was just a scunner that final one didn’t drop.

Patrick Reed, who holed his second shot from 159 yards, set the early standard with a 66, a score matched later in the day by Martin Kaymer, who plonked the European flag down amid a series of billowing Star Spangled banners. Zach Johnson, the defending champion, reached the six-under mark with two to play but leaked shots at 17 and 18 in a 67. The Americans certainly felt at home on a day of sunshine and mild breezes although Dustin Johnson, the pre-tournament favourite, had to settle for a level-par 71.

Rory McIlroy had a 69 while Jordan Spieth and Jason Day, the world No 1, were both slightly out of sorts on their way to a 71 and a 73 respectively. Spieth admitted that he did strike the ball “tremendously well” but 33 putts told its own story. Day, meanwhile, was battling with doubts over his swing and hitting just 10 greens in regulation highlighted his general raggedness.

That was in stark contrast to Mickelson’s marvellous majesty.