Professional golf has a habit of confounding the most confident of predictions, as well as crushing the most exuberant of youthful talents, but Rory McIlroy did little during yesterday's first round of the British Masters at The Belfry to dispel the notion that he is the best young European to emerge since Sergio Garcia.
The Northern Irish teenager, playing in his first European Tour event since turning professional, signed for a bogey-free round of 69, three under par, to finish the day inside the top 20 of a tournament contested by some of the game's big names, and ahead of Paul McGinley, who was one shot worse on 70, and his mentor, Darren Clarke, who could only finish on 74.
Sensible heads will point out the tournament is played over four days and 72 holes. Nevertheless, it was a good round by any standard, featuring some glorious ball-striking and a couple of early chip-ins from off the 11th and 12th greens. But to play so well under pressure was impressive.
When he set off at 7.50am with Soren Kjeldsen and Paul Lawrie, McIlroy will have known that his performance at this year's British Open, where he was the best amateur, meant his was the name most people would be looking for. Justin Rose embarked on his professional career under that kind of scrutiny in 1998 and it took him 22 tournaments to make a cut.
Like Rose, the Irishman has talent to burn. The question is whether he can cope with the challenge of knowing every shot has a cash value. On yesterday's evidence, McIlroy can.
"I'm just going out there to play golf, trying to get the little white ball in the hole. If I can do that in as few shots as possible I'll be happy," he said.
"If I can keep playing the way I did today there is no reason why I should not be up there (on the leaderboard) going into Sunday."
Among those he might come across should he find himself in contention is his playing partner Kjeldsen, who finished the day with a six-under-par 66, three behind the first-round leader, Martin Erlandsson.
Kjeldsen, who has had two second-place finishes this season, had reason to be pleased with his day's work but took a fair degree of pleasure in watching McIlroy. "He can really play," he said afterwards. Erlandsson equalled the lowest round seen at The Belfry - long after most of the crowd had gone home.
The 33-year-old, yet to win on the European Tour 10 years after turning professional, played his final seven holes in an amazing seven under par for an inward 29, a nine-under 63 and a two-stroke lead over compatriot Jarmo Sandelin and South African Richard Sterne.
"It has got to be the best round of my career. I don't think I missed a single shot. I was really spot-on with my swing."
It matched the score of Eamonn Darcy back in 1983, but the Brabazon course has been lengthened since then and so Erlandsson's effort will stand as a new course record.
