Scot Marc Warren in the very first group of the day - and the overwhelming view seemed to be that the hole was not quite right.
Westwood, who parred the hole after driving into a bunker and having the decision made for him, commented: "They've got the green elevation wrong - it's too high - and it needs to be a bit bigger.
"There's a fine line between making it exciting and making it tough, but I was a big fan of the finish.
"You could be four or five behind on the 12th and still feel you had a chance. It's a lot stiffer test now than it used to be."
McIlroy did go for it, but went left up against the hospitality unit and also took five.
He had birdied the two previous holes, though, and after standing five over after the short 10th - like Westwood he double-bogeyed that after taking two in a bunker - he said: "They are very inconsistent - some bunkers have got a lot of sand and some don't have any.
"But you shouldn't be hitting them in there in the first place."
Poulter was bothered by a neck strain at the start of the week, but was not blaming that for his dreadful start.
"I just didn't play very well and it's hard to scramble around this course the way they have changed it."
He and Harrington stayed away the last two years because of the greens. They are better surfaces now and that is why they are back, but now the talking points have altered.
Harrington was, like Els, three under after 16, but he then ran up a triple bogey eight at the 17th after driving into the trees and then chipping into a bush.
"It's not my favourite hole," he stated. "But I feel the course is easier."
Els said he just dragged what was a 'perfect' little five-wood second shot to the last, but apart from that was happy with how he and the course played.