Spain's Sergio Garcia, plays from the 17th tee during the first round of the British Open Golf Championship at Carnoustie, Scotland, Thursday July 19, 2007. Garcia finished his round 6-under-par.

Carnoustie, Scotland ? Sergio Garcia went from sobs to smiles, from his worst score as a professional to his best start ever in a major championship. Thursday at the British Open was quite a turnaround for him and Carnoustie, too.

Eight years after no one broke par in the opening round on a course that became known as “Car-Nasty,” Garcia lit up the rain-softened links for seven birdies and a sparkling par save from the bunker on the 18th hole for a 6-under 65 and a two-shot lead over Paul McGinley.

They don’t hand out the claret jug after 18 holes, but Garcia was in line for another award.

“Most improved,” he said.

He was 24 shots better than his first round in 1999, and that 89 remains his highest score as a pro.

The 83 he shot the next day remains his second-worst score.

As Garcia greeted his mother when he walked off the 18th green on a gray, chilly Thursday afternoon, there was no need to cry on her shoulder. It was the first time he was atop the leaderboard after any round of any major since he shot 66 to lead after the first day of the ’99 PGA Championship when he was 19 years old and playing only his second major as a pro.

Tiger Woods, bidding to become the first player in more than 50 years to win the British Open three straight times, added another signature moment when he holed a 90-foot birdie putt on the par-3 16th that sent him to a 69.

“I was trying to get it up there close, anywhere where I could have an easy second putt,” Woods said. “Lo and behold, it falls in.”

Carnoustie is no cream puff, but it must have felt that way to those who were here in 1999, when the cut was 12 over and the winning score 6-over 294.

The grass is not nearly as high or as thick, the fairways not nearly as narrow. And the biggest change might have been the wind, which was truly nothing more than a wee breeze along the shores of the North Sea.

Garcia led two dozen players who broke par, including 18-year-old amateur Rory McIlroy, the only one in the 156-man field who was bogey-free. He was at 68, along with U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera, former U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell and Boo Weekley, the country boy from the Florida Panhandle who felt right at home playing links golf for the first time.

But the course still showed a nasty side.

Eight players failed to break 80, including former Players champion Stephen Ames.

But even under drab skies and in temperatures so chilly that Woods wore mittens, there were exciting moments from every corner of Carnoustie, and not the carnival variety with Jean Van de Velde standing knee-deep in the Barry Burn.

Garcia stood out above them all.

Eight years ago, he made only one birdie in 36 holes. He made seven in the first round alone this year.

Whatever memories he stored from 1999 were gone after one hole, when he hit a 9-iron into 8 feet and made the putt. Garcia opened with a triple bogey last time at Carnoustie, and walking toward the second tee Thursday, he told his caddie, “That’s four better than last time.”

“From then on, I didn’t really think about it at all,” Garcia said. “Like I told you at the beginning of the week, it’s not about revenge for me. I just want to play solid. I just want to play a little bit like I did today, give myself good looks at birdies, not suffer too much out there on the course and put myself in a position where I can do something on Sunday.”

Not many suffered Sunday.

K.J. Choi, twice a winner on the PGA Tour in the last two months, Padraig Harrington and Stewart Cink were among those at 69, while U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk and two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen were in the large group at 70.

Phil Mickelson dropped a shot on the final hole for even-par 71.

Garcia, even though he is only 27, is regarded by some as the best player without a major championship. He has had his chances, finishing in the top five seven times since he turned pro in 1999. But he rarely starts out this well.

His biggest weakness has been putting, and it got so bad that he changed to a belly putter two weeks ago. Even so, it was his ball-striking that carried him at Carnoustie. He made all but one of his birdies from inside 10 feet and reached both par 5s in two.

“More than anything, you can’t imagine the amount of good putts I hit on the front nine that didn’t go in,” he said. “But all of them looked like they were going in, and that’s the beautiful thing about it.”