Paul McGinley stepped out of the TV studio and straight on to the first page of the leaderboard after the first round of the British Senior Open at St Andrews on Thursday.
The 51-year-old from Dublin opened with a six-under-par 66 over the Old Course after going out in 31 thanks to five birdies.
A birdie on the 10th and a four at the par-five 14th got McGinley to seven under before he dropped his only shot of the day at the 15th.
McGinley shares third place with Canada's Stephen Ames, with America's Kirk Triplett and Thailand's Thaworn Wiratchant sharing the lead on seven under.
Defending champion Bernhard Langer is a shot behind McGinley after an opening 67, a score matched by the American pair of David Toms and Scott McCarron. Spain's Miguel Ángel Jiménez is part of a nine-strong group on four under that also includes Tom Lehman, Kenny Perry and Jeff Sluman.
SCOREBOARD
(USA unless stated, par 72, (a) denotes amateur)
65 Kirk Triplett, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha)
66 Paul McGinley (Irl), Stephen Ames (Can)
67 Bernhard Langer (Ger), Scott McCarron, David Toms
68 Jeff Sluman, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Clark Dennis, Phillip Price (Wa), Tom Lehman, Kenny Perry, Vijay Singh (Fij), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Esp), Magnus Atlevi (Swe)
69 Paul Archbold, Chip Lutz, Billy Mayfair, Tom Watson, Steen Tinning (Den), Gary Marks (Eng), John Daly, John Inman, Joe Durant, Scott Verplank
70 Woody Austin, Kevin Sutherland, Tom Pernice Jr., Mardan Mamat (Sgp), Tim Thelen, David McKenzie (Aus), Billy Andrade, Jeff Maggert, Paul Goydos, Prayad Marksaeng (Tha), Brandt Jobe, Mauricio Molina (Arg), Mark Ridley, Jesper Parnevik (Swe)
71 Gary Orr (Sco), Marco Dawson, Colin Montgomerie (Sco), Dan Olsen, Paul Broadhurst (Eng), Fred Couples, Fran Quinn, Andre Bossert (Swi), Andrew Oldcorn (Sco), Costantino Rocca (Ita), Loren Roberts, Scott Simpson, Scott Parel, Gary Koch, Peter Fowler (Aus), Robert Maxfield (a)
72 James Kingston (Rsa), Russ Cochran, Mark Brooks, Mike Goodes, David Frost (Rsa), Gary Wolstenholme (Eng), Stephen Dodd (Wa), Paul Wesselingh (Eng), Pete Oakley, Corey Pavin, Gene Sauers, Ronan Rafferty (NIrl), Barry Lane (Eng), Philip Golding (Eng)
73 Jean Van de Velde (Fra), Scott Dunlap, Roger Chapman (Eng), Peter Lonard (Aus), Victor Casado (Esp), Miguel Angel Martin (Esp), Tim Petrovic, Simon Brown (Eng), Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra), Markus Brier (Aut), Santiago Luna (Esp), Sandy Lyle (Sco), Larry Mize
74 Jerry Kelly, Brendan McGovern (Irl), Steve Flesch, Peter Baker (Eng), David Shacklady (Eng), Mike San Filippo, Bruce Vaughan, Duffy Waldorf, Mark Calcavecchia, Tsuyoshi Yoneyama (Jpn), Spike McRoy, Paul Eales (Eng)
75 Robert Gamez, Des Smyth (Irl), Jerry Pate, Pedro Linhart (Esp), Bob Estes, Chien-Soon Lux (Tpe), Angel Franco (Pry), Cesar Monasterio (Arg), Glen Day, Jonathan Lomas (Eng), Jonathan Cheetham (Eng), Anders Forsbrand (Swe)
76 Nick Faldo (Eng), Eamonn Darcy (Irl), David Gilford (Eng), Brad Faxon, Mark Mouland (Wa), Mats Dornell (a), Chris Williams (Rsa), Henrik Simonsen (Den), Greg Turner (Nzl), Wes Short, Jr, Bob Ford (Eng), Andres Rosa, Mike Harwood (Aus), Peter O'Malley (Aus)
77 Rafael Gomez (Arg), Mark James (Eng), Gene Elliott (a), Robert Burns, Brandel Chamblee, Noboru Sugai (Jpn), Ryan Howison, David Mills, Mark McNulty (Irl), Hale Irwin, (a) Garry Lacy (Eng)
78 Darrell Kestner, Gordon Brand Jnr (Sco), Michael McCoy (a), Jose Rivero (Esp), Vicente Fernandez (Arg)
79 Peter Mitchell (Eng), Tommy Tolles, B.R Hughes (a), Bill Breen
80 Sven Struver (Ger)
81 Todd Hamilton
