Jimmy Mullen enjoyed a dream first day as a professional as he claimed a share of the clubhouse lead at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
The 21 year old was making his professional debut after winning all four of his matches as Great Britain and Ireland beat the United States in last month's Walker Cup.
And he fired a brilliant 64 at Kingsbarns to share the lead with Kristoffer Broberg who posted the same total at St Andrews.
Mullen, who successfully navigated the first stage of Qualifying School last week, made a birdie on his first hole in the paid ranks on the 10th and followed that with further gains on the 11th, 13th and 16th. He gave a shot back on the next but bounced back with birdies on the 18th, first and third.
The Englishman then holed his second shot on the par four sixth to get to eight under but dropped a shot on the next before a birdie on the ninth took him to the top of the pile.
Broberg is still searching for his first European Tour win but had back-to-back top tens recently at the Made in Denmark and the D+D REAL Czech Masters and surged to the top of the leaderboard with an unblemished 64.
The 29 year old started his round with three birdies from the tenth and then added another on the 14th to turn in 32. Another gain came on the second and Broberg secured a further hat-trick of birdies from the fourth to get to eight under.
Kingsbarns was offering up the lowest scores of the day so far and Søren Kjeldsen, Richard Bland and Anthony Wall were all on seven under having begun their Dunhill Links campaign there.
Kjeldsen, out in the first group of the day, had set the early pace as he turned in 31 and the Dane came back in 34 to sit a shot behind the leaders.
The Dubai Duty Free Irish Open champion picked up shots on the 12th, 13th, 15th, 17th and 18th holes and, while he could not quite maintain that pace after the turn, further gains at the third and ninth ensured a satisfactory day's work.
Bland was also in the clubhouse after eight birdies and a single bogey while Wall's card was unblemished as he moved into a share of second.
Australian Marcus Fraser was a further shot back having signed for a bogey-free 66 and he was alongside Moritz Lampert who was six under through 14 holes.
Peter Lawrie, Alexander Levy and Felipe Aguilar were then finished for the day in the group at five under while the best score of the day at Carnoustie was 68 with Chris Stroud, local favourite Marc Warren and Thorbjørn Olesen all four under.
Mullen was not the only man having a professional debut to remember as Paul Dunne sank a five iron from 205 yards to record a hole in one on the 15th at Kingsbarns and he was five under through 12 holes.
