After arriving in Bermuda during the early hours of the morning Jim Furyk admitted Mid Ocean Club's gigantic greens felt like a "slam in the face".

The world number three also provided a ringing endorsement of the latest Grand Slam venue, believing the course contrasted favourably with Poipu Bay, Koloa, in Hawaii, where the showpiece had been staged on the previous 13 occasions.

"This course is more difficult than Poipu Bay, but they're both charming and fun in their own way," said Furyk.

"You have a lot more short irons in your hands and the greens are more difficult, especially with the pin placements.

"The greens are a lot flatter and slower at Poipu Bay and you can afford to be a lot more aggressive.

"To be honest it (the course) was a slam in the face for me. The pins were always tucked behind a bunker and were hard to access. I didn't realise I would be having to play so hard."

It was a bleary-eyed Furyk who teed off from the first hole yesterday morning, with the 2003 US Open winner declaring he still had not properly woken up at the end of the first round.

But while he described his showing as disappointing and full of missed opportunities, Furyk still recorded a respectable one-over par 71.

"I arrived in Bermuda at about 1 a.m. after a very long trip from Korea," where the American finished third in the Shinhan Donghae Open.

"I was disappointed with the way I played and I felt I missed a lot of birdie opportunities.

"At holes 16, 17 and 18 I should have birdied and I felt I should have finished a lot closer to the leader (Harrington) than I did."

Another man not exactly fresh was Angel Cabrera who flew in by private jet on Sunday night after losing to Ernie Els in the World Match Play Championships in Wentworth, England.

Not that it showed though, with the huge hitter blitzing his way through the first round using driver at virtually every hole.

"My putting could have been better but I'm pretty happy with how I played," said Cabrera.

"I've played a lot of golf recently and I do not feel 100 percent at the moment, but I'm not far away.

"I had never played Mid Ocean before and I used driver at almost every hole and I drove perfect which made it much easier before me.

"I thought there might be a few more people here, but the atmosphere was excellent. It's an exciting tournament and it's good that we were able to show people what we can do with a golf ball."

It was not so much an up and down day for Zach Johnson as an "down and up" day with the Masters champion having to claw his way back into contention after a miserable start.

Johnson carded four bogeys on the front nine, including three in the first three holes, as he struggled to cope with the pace of the undulating greens.

With no out of bounds, he found himself way back in a resident's garden on number two to the left of the green, taking a drop, which pretty much summed up his opening few holes.

"I ended up in some guy's patio. How can that not be out of bounds? The ball was up against a brick wall," joked Johnson who eventually carded a one-over par 71.

"You could say it was definitely a down and up day for me and after making a poor start I actually played quite well.

"I made some poor shots early on which was frustrating because I played well during the Pro-Am."