SO, EVEN with all the cosmetic surgery she remains a fickle temptress. For sure, the appearance of the West Course has changed; yet, beneath the aesthetics of its new greens, its artificial brooks and its brazenly deep bunkers, there remains a menacing intent.

Ask Pádraig Harrington. Ask Ian Poulter. Ask Lee Westwood. Ask Ernie Els. Ask almost anybody, in fact. Yesterday, in near-ideal conditions, the majority endured some torment.

But not Danny Willett, who claimed the first-round lead of the €4.5 million BMW PGA Championship in this leafy stockbroker belt outside of London with a stunning 65.

Willett is yet another of that new breed of players who bounce along the fairways with the sort of self-belief and exuberance which can only belong to youth.

But for Harrington, unfortunately, his tale came with a twist. On his return to the European Tour’s flagship event, having stayed away for the previous two years because of a dislike for the old poa annua greens, Harrington played like a man inspired for 16 holes: his bunker play was majestic, his putting reliable.

Then, he reached the long 17th . . . and it all went horribly wrong.

Ironically, in his two practice rounds in preparation for the real thing, Harrington had cracked a driver down the middle of the 17th fairway. When it mattered, though, his driver let him down as he ran up a triple-bogey eight en route to signing for a level-par 71, all of six shots adrift of Willett.

In the time it takes to cook an egg, his round unravelled: it all started with a blocked drive into trees. Then, an attempted recovery shot led him into even greater trouble, as the ball landed in the middle of a holly bush, from where he took a penalty shot relief.

On and on it went, until finally he rolled in a short putt for an ugly eight which undid all the good work that had gone before it. All Harrington could do was take the knock-back on the chin.

“I took 71 shots and 13 of them were on the last two holes,” he said, adding: “I did a lot of practice last week and was hitting the ball great but I didn’t take it to the golf course. I was betwixt and between with my alignment, and hopefully it settles down over the coming days. I’ll trust it now for the next three days and I will see what happens.”

Still, a level-par opening round left Harrington in a position to repair the damage.

In Poulter’s case, the damage may prove irreparable. The Englishman opened with a 78, but refused to apportion any blame to the neck injury which affected his build-up.

“It’s hard to scramble around this golf course, so if you’re not going to play well then it is going to punish you,” said Poulter, who currently sits atop the Order of Merit but who is faced with the prospect of another missed-cut on a course which has traditionally tried his patience.

On a pet day with barely a breath of wind, Willett – on his first competitive round at the course – fashioned his way to a best-of-the-day 65, and his steady play avoided any of the disasters which befell others, including course re-designer Els, who put a five-wood approach to the 18th into the brook which has materialised in front of the final green in the 12 months since Paul Casey claimed the title.

Willett produced nine birdies in his round, which at least provided evidence that the course – especially on a fair day – could be conquered.

The 22-year-old Englishman, the son of a preacher, is in only his second year on tour and has used his friend Rory McIlroy’s exploits as a factor in changing his attitude and encouraging his ambitions to claim a maiden win on tour.

“I’ve changed my mental attitude. It would be good to win, but it’s not a necessity this year. It’ll come soon if I just keep playing good golf,” said Willett, who finished the day a shot clear of Australian left-hander Richard Green, with the quartet of Richie Ramsay, Steve Webster, SSP Chowrasia and Ross Fisher another shot back.

Westwood, the world number three, was set fair for a strong opening after moving to three under through five holes and reaching the turn on that mark.

But his round came undone with a double-bogey five on the 10th – leading to him taking out his frustration on the markers on the 11th tee box. And he failed to birdie either of the closing par fives, the 17th and 18th, which left him signing for a 70.

“The swing has felt a bit off since coming back from the Masters and you need to be on your game (here), it is certainly a stiffer test than it used to be.”

In particular, the back nine proved to be the undoing of some potentially good scorecards: the 12th, 13th and 15th, played as the second, third and first most difficult holes respectively yesterday.

Yet it was the 18th, which now has a controversial drain running in front of the hole, was proved the undoing of Els, the man responsible for giving the West Course its new look.

How did he feel? “Not very good right now,” admitted Els, who had remained bogey-free to that point.

Els had fallen victim to the sting in the tail he’d hoped his redesign would produce.