Andy Murray is a man for the big stage - three Grand Slam wins, two Olympic golds and the man who ended 36 years of home hurt at Wimbledon - but he admitted he was so nervous stood over his opening tee-shot at the BMW PGA Championship Pro-Am that he could barely feel his arms and legs.
Since announcing his retirement from tennis last month, the Scot has made no secret of his appetite for golf and he arrived at Wentworth Club as a marquee name in the curtain-raiser for the third Rolex Series event of the DP World Tour season.
Paired with fellow Scot Robert MacIntyre, England cricketing great Jimmy Anderson and Strictly Come Dancing's Anton Du Beke, big crowds gathered to see the famous fourball tee off the 18th and they were even bigger when they reached the grandstand on their next hole - the first.
When they walked off the 17th, Team MacIntyre were 16 under, 13 shots behind the leading team of Tommy Fleetwood, Tom Holland and the Spider-Man star's brothers, Harry and Sam, and Murray had thoroughly enjoyed playing the West Course after his nervous start.
"I couldn't really feel my arms and legs," said Murray, who had his father William caddying for him. "I didn't really hit any balls on the range beforehand. I was feeling it but it got better. It got better as the round went on.
"It's a different sort of nerves because you are comfortable in the tennis environment. I'm not thinking I'm going to walk out on the tennis court and forget how to hit the ball. You just want to perform well.
"Whereas here, you're sort of nervous about... there's people standing like five metres away from where I'm driving, and I'm like, 'I'm useless at this game'.
"You just want to try and keep the ball in play and don't mess up too much."
He added: "Anton is the entertainer out there. Jimmy was really, really nice. He can hit the ball miles. And obviously playing with Bob MacIntyre, being a Scot, is really special.
"It was good. A brilliant experience for me. To be out there with one of the best in the world for me, it was brilliant."
Murray is currently a seven handicap but, ever the competitor, is hopeful of getting down to scratch in short order.
"A bit thin." @andy_murray 😂#BMWPGA | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/5mYsoEs5Cy
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"I think my expectations currently are pretty low," he said. "I'm not expecting to play very well. But I can see how if you're playing a lot and practising a lot and getting better and better, that changes.
"I'm obviously getting to practise a lot more than the average person. I played a bit when I was younger and if I can get the right sort of lessons and practise the right things, then yeah, I've got a chance of (getting down to scratch) I think in a couple of years.
"The lessons have made a huge difference. That's been the most important thing for me. I used to go down to the range and hit lots of balls and I could hit a few good ones.
"But if you have a fundamental flaw in your swing or what you're doing, it doesn't matter how many balls you hit on the range. So getting lessons and practising those things is helping."
MacIntyre is a Scottish sporting hero in his own right, having won his home open earlier this summer to become a Rolex Series champion and been part of a winning European Ryder Cup team.
But the 28-year-old - who revealed he watched every shot of Murray's two Wimbledon final wins - believes he has a long way to go to get close to matching the man from Dunblane's achievements.
"If I achieve half of what he achieved in his sport, then I'll have overachieved to be honest with you," MacIntyre said.
"I think any Scottish person growing up, watching sport, there's not many people that you can look to in sports that are proper champions that go about things the right way.
"On the courts, he gets heated. On the course, I get heated. But the fight he's got and the dedication to the sport, it's unbelievable. He's just a sporting idol for many people.
"Obviously his life, he's done different things but I feel like the two sports are the closest that they can get. We are both individuals. Both have teams around us. Obviously the mechanics are completely different, but I think it's as close as I can get to my sport.
"I think picking his brains will be great and I've done that today and I'll be doing that in the future. It's just little snippets, they are just little nuggets that you think have helped him create history to be honest."
