A special week for Colin Montgomerie could become even more memorable after he began the Andalucian Open with a five-under-par 67 in Seville.
To mark his 500th European Tour event as a professional the new Ryder Cup captain has already been presented with a cake, an engraved ice bucket and some champagne.
But his seven-birdie display means Montgomerie is now also eyeing up the possibility of a 32nd victory - and his first for nearly two years.
"People say that being the Ryder Cup captain will hurt my game, but I think it will do the exact opposite," he said after a round which left him in joint-second, only one behind fellow Scot Chris Doak.
"I think it will improve my performances over this next year and a half.
"I'm very relaxed on the course, less uptight. I've thought about the captaincy every minute of every day since I was appointed, but it's nice to show I can still compete out here at 45 and I look forward to going forward from here."
During his amazing run of seven successive Order of Merits in the 1990s it was often said that other players were affected by a 'Monty Factor' whenever his name appeared on the leaderboard.
"I don't think it is so much the case now," he added.
"That was worth probably a shot a tournament and remember, out of my 31 wins 20 were by a shot, so it was a great deal."
Montgomerie, however, has had only three top-10 finishes in almost 18 months, and none since he was runner-up to Pablo Larrazabal at last June's French Open.
Four birdies in his first six holes were the perfect early boost and after going in the water for a bogey six at the long 16th, he made a 15-footer on the 18th to turn in 32 and started the front nine by holing from twice as far.
"I started the Johnnie Walker Classic with a 67 and I finished the Dubai Desert Classic with one. Things are looking up," he added.
"For me it's quite simple. If I have 25 putts I score 67. If I have 28 tomorrow I'll score 70. That's the way I play. I've always said that if I putt well I will be in contention."
At 137th in the world not even a win would get Montgomerie into The Masters in two weeks' time, except in the unlikely event that Augusta National invite him.
Doak is a 31-year-old from Greenock ranked 1,329 in the world. He won last season's Tartan Tour, then came through the qualifying school at the seventh attempt.
He did not drop a stroke and after collecting six birdies said: "Getting my card was fantastic, you just have to keep going."
Alongside Montgomerie are another Scot, Steven O'Hara, Spain's Juan Parron and France's Jean-Francois Lucquin.
O'Hara, a Walker Cup team-mate of Luke Donald, Graeme McDowell and Nick Dougherty in 2001, is still waiting for his first Tour victory.
But the 28-year-old is back now at the course where he had his first top-10 finish five years ago and in his final four holes he had two birdies and also an eagle on the 16th.
Lucquin is the player who beat rising star Rory McIlroy in a play-off for the European Masters in Switzerland last September.
"That makes it even more special," he said after three birdies in his last four.
Jose Maria Olazabal, in only his fifth event since May last year, had two double bogeys in a 74, while Swede Peter Hanson and Dane Anders Hansen - who need a top-three finish to have a chance of climbing into the world's top 50 just in time to qualify for The Masters - both shot 72.
Collated first round scores
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
66 Christopher Doak
67 Juan Parron (Spa), Colin Montgomerie, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra), Steven O'Hara
68 Stephen Dodd, Thomas Bjorn (Den), Marcel Siem (Ger), Andrew Coltart, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa), Soren Kjeldsen (Swe)
69 Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa), Marco Ruiz (Par), Michael Jonzon (Swe), Jamie Donaldson, Birgir Hafthorsson (Ice), Jose Manuel Lara (Spa)
70 Carlos Del Moral (Spa), Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Ake Nilsson (Rsa), Jean Van de Velde (Fra), Graeme Storm, Simon Wakefield, John E Morgan, Raul Quiros (Spa), Matthew Millar (Aus), Markus Brier (Aut), Miles Tunnicliff, Gregory Havret (Fra), Bradley Dredge, Jan Are Larsen (Nor), Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Scott Drummond, Seve Benson, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Carl Suneson (Spa), David Drysdale, Thomas Levet (Fra)
71 Christian Cevaer (Fra), Christian Nilsson (Swe), Jeppe Huldahl (Den), Estanislao Goya (Arg), Carlos Rodiles (Spa), Peter Lawrie, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Paul Broadhurst, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa), Marcus Higley, Andrew Oldcorn, Ignacio Garrido (Spa)
72 Francesco Molinari (Ita), Mikael Lundberg (Swe), Anders Hansen (Den), Benn Barham, Oliver Fisher, Anthony Snobeck (Fra), Peter Hanson (Swe), Niclas Fasth (Swe), Bernd Wiesberger (Aut), Richard Bland, Zane Scotland , David Howell, Nick Dougherty, Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Stuart Manley, David Lynn, Simon Khan, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Paul McGinley
73 John Mellor, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe), Pelle Edberg (Swe), Simon Dyson, Wil Besseling (Ned), Robert Rock, Stuart Davis, Chris Wood, Hennie Otto (Rsa), Anton Haig (Rsa), Steve Webster, Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa), Paul Waring, Phillip Price, Phillip Archer, Mark Foster
74 Francis Valera (Spa), Damien McGrane, Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spa), Danny Willett, Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa), Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Callum Macaulay, Alastair Forsyth, Santiago Luna (Spa), Oskar Henningsson (Swe), Sam Little, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Richie Ramsay, Magnus Carlsson (Swe), Andrew McLardy (Rsa), Gary Lockerbie, Gary Clark, Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Taco Remkes (Ned), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Inder Van Weerelt (Ned), Ross McGowan
75 Alvaro Velasco (Spa), Soren Hansen (Den), Branden Grace (Rsa), Klas Eriksson (Swe), Peter Hedblom (Swe), Anthony Wall, Lee Slattery, Alessandro Tadini (Ita), Marc Warren, Eduardo De La Riva (Spa), Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Michael Curtain (Aus), Michael Hoey, David Horsey, Rhys Davies, Alexandre Rocha (Bra), Stephen Gallacher, Jose carlos Gutierrez (Spa), Barry Lane
76 Jonathan Caldwell, Gary Murphy, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor), Kenneth Ferrie, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra)
77 Joakim Haeggman (Swe), Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra), Garry Houston, Patrik Sjoland (Swe), John Bickerton, Marc Cayeux (Zim), Ignacio Sanchez-Palencia (Spa), Pedro Linhart (Spa), Paul Lawrie, Wade Ormsby (Aus), Pablo Martin (Spa), Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa), Manuel Quiros (Spa)
78 Federico Colombo (Ita), David Dixon
79 Rafael Echenique (Arg), Emanuele Canonica (Ita), David Frost (Rsa)
81 Gabriel Perez (Spa)
WD: 80 Lorenzo Gagli (Ita), 85 Antti Ahokas (Fin)
MONTY REVEALS OLAZABAL AGREEMENT
Cleveland Browns sign another former Jet, ink LB David Bowens
Cincinnati Bengals sign fullback Naufahu Tahi to free-agent offer sheet
