In the summer of 1993, a young Paul Casey got a job working the leaderboard at the British Open in Sandwich where his task was to put up the names of the players as they came through the hole. "We got paid for the privilege and got to sleep in a tent," he recalled yesterday here where his name was the one on top of all the boards dotted around the links.

From sign-boy to golf professional, Casey has come a long way. For yesterday's first round, a sign of his progress could be gauged from him being grouped alongside US Masters champion Phil Mickelson and charismatic Japanese player Shigeki Maruyama.

And, in shooting an opening round of five-under-par 66, he found himself in a share of the lead alongside Thomas Levet of France.

In many ways, this is a dream come true for Casey, who will celebrate his 27th birthday next week.

"Every young boy dreams for holing putts at the Open, of teeing up with Phil Mickelson. Fortunately, I'm the one doing it. I'm very happy with the way things have gone. The hard work is paying off, because I spent a lot of time hitting golf balls when I was 12 years old and dreaming of this."

Not that his play in previous British Opens gave any hint of what was to come yesterday. Casey missed the cut at Muirfield in 2002 and again at Royal St George's last year, where he opened with an 85.

"I'm not getting in my own way as I have done, especially last year," he remarked of his improved confidence.

"This year has been very good. I've been very relaxed and allowed myself to play good golf. And if I'm in that frame of mind, anything can happen."

Indeed, Casey finished tied-sixth at the US Masters in April and, although he missed the cut in the US Open at Shinnecock Hills, the Englishman has been extremely consistent with two second-place finishes this season on the European Tour and chasing a place on Europe's Ryder Cup team.

"Major championships are a big deal and that's what everyone wants to win. You have to treat them the same as every other golf event and, if you don't, that's when rounds like that 85 happen. If you try too hard, you don't succeed.

"You've got to want it a lot, but not to push it over the edge. The thing is to find a happy medium and, right now, I feel we're finding it every now and then. We found it a for a week in April (at the Masters) and, hopefully, we'll find it for a whole week here."

He added: "The golf goal is to go out and have some fun, there's no extra pressure. If you start thinking about what you've got to shoot then it starts to get very, very difficult. I feel like my golf game has a lot of potential and this is the tip of the iceberg.

"I'm not saying I'm going to win dozens of majors or anything like that, not at all. But I feel I can be around playing in the Open Championships and competing for the next 15, 20 years."

Yesterday's round hinted further at Casey's potential, as he played lovely golf that contained seven birdies and two bogeys, both the result of aggressive approach shots that went through the green at the ninth and the 12th.

The trick is to tailor that into controlled aggression and, for the most part, Casey managed to do that admirably.