LEE WESTWOODshook of the post-Ryder Cup blues and produced another Master-ful performance at the Grove.
Whenever Westwood tees up in a tournament with Masters in the title, he seems to come to life he has already won 13 of them, and his four under par 67 in the first round of the British Masters left him just one shot off the lead.
But it was a different story for another former world No 1, Luke Donald, who is also hosting the 3million tournament at the Grove.
He found himself in a share of 109th place in the 118-man field after an horrendous siX over par 77 and was then forced to suffer further embarrassment by staging a pre-arranged master class for the event sponsors, Sky Sports!
It was Westwood who should have been offering tips, after he hit all 14 fairways and set up a string of birdie chances in a four under par 67,which would have been a lot better if he had been half as successful with the putter as he was with his driver.
But his opening effort, which was later matched by crowd-pleaser Andrew Beef Johnston, still had long-serving caddie Billy Foster purring.
It was a welcome return to form after Westys first pointless Ryder Cup followed by an horrendous 82 at Kingsbarns that saw him miss the cut by miles at last weeks Alfred Dunhilll Championship.
Westwood commented: The game felt really good, and I made it look fairly easy. Billy was saying it's he's never seen me hit the ball better than I did today.
The driving's not been great recently, but I drove it really well today. I didn't miss a my fairway and hit a lot of good iron shots as well and gave myself a lot of chances for birdie.
The par three 13th was a good example its a tough hole over water, but I flushed a six iron and I thought it was going in for a while. It wasnt to be, but it was still a gimme birdie.
Its nice to play this week in front of a big British crowd. It's great to see nearly 20,000 people here. The British public are great at supporting events and this one is a prime example of that.
It's good that Sky are giving away thousands of free tickets this week. Everything they are doing this week is great. It's furthering golf, hopefully to get people involved.
When I first came on Tour, we had a lot more UK events, and they gradually got less and less. The tournaments are so well supported, and it creates such a good atmosphere out there. It's a shame we can't play a little bit more in Britain.
Donald however admitted he wanted to hide after a round that contained five bogeys, a double, and a solitary birdie at the par five 15th.
He said: The master class might be a good thing - maybe I can teach myself a few things, remind myself of some of the fundamentals because I didn't do it too well out there today.
That lone birdie was a long time coming, which is why I raised my arms to the heavens when the putt went in.
I missed a couple of fairways, but I actually drove it pretty well. It is generous out here, but I didn't hit it close often enough - and when I did, I never made a putt.
Every time I missed a green, I wasn't getting up and down. It probably wasn't as bad as the score suggested but I am coming off a four-week break and the short game was certainly very rusty.
I need to go low now in round two. I probably need six or seven under to play on the weekend, but you can shoot a low one out here.