Who says you slow down as the years advance? If he’s not doing his punditry on the television, then you can find Paul McGinley blethering away on the after dinner speaking circuit.

Or he might be delivering leadership talks at the London School of Business? Then again, he could be embroiled in a meeting as part of the board on the European Tour. And don’t forget his various ambassadorial roles for a variety of companies.

It’s a wonder he manages to shoehorn any golf into his schedule at all. And when he does, he probably has to do a key note speech between tee-shots.

On a beautiful, breezy day in the cradle of the game, McGinley was one of many who made hay while that big fiery globe shone.

A six-under 66 over the Old Course got the Irishman up-and-running in the Senior Open as he tucked himself into a tie for third.

This is only his fourth senior event of the season but perhaps the sense-stirring powers of the Old Course helped ease him back into the swing.

“Playing it on a day like this is magical and mystical,” said McGinley, whose seven-birdie round left him a shot behind the co-leaders, Kirk Triplett, who was bogey-free in a 65, and Thaworn Wiratchant.

“I have these other commitments but I still love to play. And I practice a lot when I have a spare few hours. I’m hitting balls on the range, I’m chipping and putting, I’m playing money games with members at the club. I’m keeping in touch that way.”

Sporting a pair of white trousers emblazoned with skulls, John Daly looked a bit like death warmed up as he hirpled out of the recording hut after a decent 69. There’s a reason for the grimacing gait, of course.

The 52-year-old, who won the Open here in 1995, recently had surgery on his knee which involved taking bone marrow out of his hip and injecting it back into that bothersome bit of the body.

“My doctor told me it’s going to take two to six weeks for the burning to get out of the hip,” said Daly after a round illuminated by an eagle on the fifth. “But the knee feels okay.”

There were no such aches and pains for the evergreen Tom Watson as he displayed his links craftsmanship with a shrewd 69 of his own which featured all those attributes of feel, finesse and a touch of old flair.

His “bullet” of a 3-iron into the perilous 17th was a classy clatter plucked from the vaults and gave the three-time Senior Open champion plenty to smile about.

“It was 188 yards to the front cut and 200 to the top of the table on the green,” he said. “I hit it exactly 200. The wind was pretty much in my face. That’s a great accomplishment to get it on the upper level at the Road Hole.”

A hole later, the 68-year-old Watson had a 25-footer for a birdie on the last to score his age. Would this make up for that shank and the three putts he had on his final hole in his Open swansong over the Old Course in 2015? Not quite.

“I had a putt to shoot my age … and I left it short,” said Watson with a smiling sigh. “And you know what, that was kind of the same feeling as a shank and taking three putts.”

Playing alongside Miguel Angel Jimenez and the defending champion Bernhard Langer, Watson’s tasty triumvirate was a cumulative 12-under-par.

With all the inevitability of night following day, the unwavering Langer found himself at the sharp end of affairs yet again with a five-under 67 as his bid for a record-breaking 11th senior major got off to a sturdy start.

Four birdies on his opening five holes put down solid foundations as the German, like most, made strides on the outward half before trying to consolidate coming back into the wind. “I think, as a group, we did feed off each other,” said the 60-year-old.

Colin Montgomerie’s round unravelled over the last few holes and he was twice forced to come of the bunkers sideways at both the 16th and the 17th.

As he peered at his grisly lies in the sand with that trademark tea-pot stance of muttering, eye-rolling exasperation, Monty would eventually leak three shots in two holes as he trudged in with shoulders at half mast and signed for a 71.