VOLVO SCANDINAVIAN MASTERS: As dream debuts go, Graeme McDowell's record-breaking 64 in yesterday's Volvo Scandinavian Masters first round was the stuff of fairytales.
With the ink barely dry on his contract to represent the Kungsangen club, where this event is being played near Stockholm, the amiable Ulsterman, a professional only seven weeks, arrived too late for a full practice round over a course he had never seen. But the young man who helped Britain and Ireland to a historic Walker Cup win in the United States last August still shot into the lead with seven birdies.
Ronan Rafferty, meanwhile, stayed in contention by shooting an opening round score of 68 while David Higgins is well off the pace after he shot a round of 76.
McDowell (23), this week, can thank his Ryder Cup compatriot Darren Clarke for his Swedish rhapsody. "He's given me lots of help and advice and introduced me to his management company, which fixed me up with the [Kungsangen club] deal," he explained.
"I aimed to be out in time for a practice round but my flight from Belfast was delayed and I managed only nine holes, walking the other nine.
"My caddie recommended playing the trickier front nine, which was my second nine today, and I covered it in 31 with four birdies in the last five holes. It's a dream come true."
In fact McDowell's career to date has been something of a dream come true. This season, in his final year at Alabama university, he was ranked top collegiate golfer in the United States with six wins in 12 outings and a stroke average of 69.28 compared with Tiger Woods' 70.20 in the year he was America's top student golfer.
Last month he was runner-up in a Challenge Tour event in Hamburg and with his confidence soaring he looks a superstar in the making.
"I've got seven tour invites and my target is to win my card. A good week here would be a bonus," he said.
"I figured if I could finish in the top 12 or 15 in the college rankings in the States I must be good enough to turn pro but I've probably over-prepared and I felt tired and sluggish today. My chipping and putting has been letting me down but I'm making fewer and fewer mistakes."
Another former amateur star, the Australian Adam Scott, would have matched McDowell's seven-under 64 but for a four at the short 12th. His five birdies and an eagle put him five clear of his playing partner Colin Montgomerie, the defending champion, who finished birdie, birdie for a 70 and pronounced himself "delighted".
Montgomerie's former caddie Alastair McLean had the last laugh as he is now working for Montgomerie's playing partner Adam Scott after the end of his 10-year partnership with the former European number one, and Montgomerie was determined to hand out some good-natured ridicule if he picked a wrong club.
"I'm very happy with that start, it's nice to put a low number on the board, it's been a while," said Scott, who has been working with Butch Harmon's son Claude but has to share Harmon senior's time with Tiger Woods amongst others.
"Some bad habits in my technique were killing me and I was not able to sort them out before the tournament came round. I was trying to come up with a quick fix and it was not working so well."
"It was good to catch up with Butch and he really got me on the right path again. I'm planning on seeing him a bit more now, taking more trips to Las Vegas before US tournaments."
Montgomerie was two over after four holes and also dropped two shots coming home, but the Scot picked up five birdies and was reasonably satisfied with his day's work.
"I missed a couple of greens on the wrong side but it's okay," said the 39-year-old, who hit a three-wood "like an Exocet" to set up a birdie on the par-five ninth, his closing hole. "It gives me a chance to shoot low tomorrow and get in there.
"I wish Alastair nothing but the best. It was nice to see him get a few clubs right for a change!"
English trio Warren Bennett, Matthew Cort and Grant Hamerton are in joint third on 66, one ahead of New Zealand's Michael Campbell.
