COLIN MONTGOMERIE has never been known to steer clear of controversy.

Indeed, he has often been the instigator of it in a career littered with noteworthy incidents.

But, yesterday, on the first day of the Senior Open at Royal Birkdale, Montgomerie found himself in the role of innocent bystander as his American playing partners, Mark O'Meara and Fred Couples, became embroiled in drama.

O'Meara suffered the misfortune of striking a woman spectator in the face with his ball when he playing out of rough at the second hole, damaging several of the unfortunate lady's teeth in the process.

The 54-year-old former Open champion, winner at Birkdale 15 years ago, instantly went to the woman's aid before continuing his round in a clearly shaken state.

Thirteen holes later there was further drama when Couples, the defending champion, was involved in a heated exchange with a woman spectator after she appeared to hurl abuse in his direction.

Couples, enraged by the incident, is understood to have told his tormentor, "If you don't cut it out I'll have you f****** ejected", although it should be stressed that the player was not available to comment on the precise nature of his verbal volley.

Montgomerie, while confirming that an incident had indeed taken place at the 15th, was unable to throw further light on the exchange.

"It appeared Freddie had an altercation," he said. "I heard that and I asked Mark about it, but he didn't know either, so I can't say anything more. Mark was very rattled by what happened on the second, anybody would be. We heard the noise, the poor lady. My word, I hope she's okay. But Mark has her address and I'm sure flowers will be sent her way. Usually it's me who's involved in these things. I'm actually disappointed but, don't worry, I'm bound to give you something this week."

On the more mundane subject of golf, the Scot's 72 on his debut in the tournament was five more than first-round leader Gene Sauers carded to establish a one-shot advantage over four players – David Frost, Bernhard Langer, Frankie Minoza and Peter Senior – and two fewer than O'Meara and Couples.

American Sauers considers himself "blessed" to even be playing golf after being struck by a potentially deadly skin disease.

He revealed that he had to have skin grafts carried out on his arms and legs, spending several weeks in hospital, where it was "torture" of the sort he would not wish on his worst enemy.

"I'm glad to be here," he said. "If I had got an infection I could have been gone. I didn't touch a golf club for five years."

Montgomerie, while not exactly ecstatic with his effort, was reasonably satisfied in the circumstances, after running up bogies at 10, 11 and 12, before clawing back a shot at the 16th.

He also admitted that he was a bag of nerves standing on the first tee after claiming: "It felt like a major. It had the same feeling as an Open and emotionally it was game on.

"A 72 is something to build on and it's safe. You can't win it today, but you can throw it away with a 77 so it's not a disaster. I'm five behind the leader and not a week ago Phil Mickelson came from that far behind with a round to go. I've got three. It was difficult out there when the wind picked up and on any links course that makes it a test. You have to think on every tee on what is probably the best course on the Open rota.

"You either take the course on with risks or play safe, and the birdie was very important psychologically."

Five years after attracting adverse publicity when he walked off the course midway through his opening round in the Open, Sandy Lyle returned to the scene of the "crime" yesterday and completed 18 holes in 70 blows.

Lyle, who claimed that he was suffering from a hand injury in 2008, in addition to being cold, wet and thoroughly miserable, was roundly criticised and his action may perhaps have contributed to him being overlooked for Ryder Cup captaincy.

But unlike Rory McIlroy, who was the central figure in similar controversy at the Honda Classic in March, Lyle still sees no reason to apologise.

"I can sleep at night, that's the main thing," he said. "I think it's better to be up front than try to make excuses. I was 11 over for 10 holes and I didn't want to spoil my chances for the following week as it was my first Senior Open.

"So I made what I thought at the time was a good decision, because my hand was not in good shape and I'd had trouble with it for over 10 years."

It was a measure of how tough a test Birkdale presented to the 144-strong field that only 10 of that number managed to shoot under par.

Three-time Senior Open champion Tom Watson, aged 63, was one of those in blue following a 73 at the venue where he won the last of his five Opens, in 1983.