BRITISH OPEN Els' ace highlights today's play

Early starters were playing the first two holes with success.
TROON, Scotland (AP) -- The world's best players came to Royal Troon knowing the front nine was there for the taking in the British Open.
It didn't take long to prove them right.
Birdies were plentiful, eagles were available and a rare double eagle was made by Gary Evans in today's opening round on a front nine playing even easier than imagined on a calm coastal morning.
Ernie Els joined the fun with a hole-in-one on the famed Postage Stamp hole.
Els hit a wedge that took three bounces on the 123-yard eighth hole, then backed up into the hole as he grinned with delight and the Scottish spectators roared their approval.
Calm conditions
With former PGA champion Rich Beem leading the way, the early starters took dead aim at the pins on a day when the wind off the Firth of Clyde was unusually quiet.
Beem eagled the sixth hole on his way to a 5-under 31 on the front nine, but he wasn't alone. A cluster of players made the turn only a shot or two back, and more anxiously awaited their turns in the 133rd Open.
Players had expected the front nine to play easier, mostly because it almost always plays downwind.
The second nine on the links course returns directly into the prevailing wind, forcing players to hang on to try and protect their scores.
Of the first 42 starters who had played at least two holes, 25 were under par, something almost unheard of in a major championship.
Evans of England, best known for losing a ball on the 17th at Muirfield to wreck his Open chances, made a double eagle on the par-5 fourth by holing a 5-iron from the fairway. It was the first double eagle in the British Open since Greg Owen on the 11th hole at Royal Lytham & amp; St. Annes in 2001.
On the other end of the spectrum was Tom Weiskopf, the '73 Open champion at Royal Troon playing in his first major since the 1995 British Open. The 61-year-old Weiskopf took a quadruple-bogey 8 on the easy opening hole and shot 45 on the front nine.
David Duval didn't even make it to the first tee, withdrawing because of a sprained muscle in his back. Duval played his first tournament of the year last month in the U.S. Open, shooting 83-82 to miss the cut.
Defending champion Ben Curtis was among the late starters. He will be introduced as the defending champion, and get a nice round of applause. That's better than the title he had last year, which was rookie PGA Tour member and first-time major player.
Curtis was then a 500-1 shot just trying to figure out how to play links golf, so unknown that when he asked for a local caddie, the caddie replied: "Ben who?"
His visibility hasn't improved much since last year, and neither have his odds. British bookies make him a 200-1 pick to successfully defend his title, something that hasn't happened since Tom Watson turned the trick in 1983.
Still, Curtis likes his chances even though he's done little to impress anyone since he held the silver claret jug aloft on the 18th green last year at Royal St. George's.
"I think you've got to look at it, anybody who defends their title is a threat," he said. "Especially in a major because I've won this before and I feel like I can do it again."