The 50-year-old Swede hasn't played many tournaments since he was forced to leave the LIV tour last year.
But he showed during the first round at Royal Birkdale that he thrives on British links courses, which took him to victory in the 2016 British Open.
I made a bad hole, the eleventh, where I made a double bogey. I'm really happy that we had the patience to fight on and then get some reward with some good shots. Three birdies in the last four holes take it from a mediocre round to a good round, he says.
Joakim Lagergren also finished on -2. The Swedes are two strokes behind the early leaders Im Sung-Jae of South Korea, Daniel Brown of England and Ryan Gerard of the US.
Swedish superstar Ludvig Åberg teed off at 16.01.
