Victor Perez may have been 1250 miles from the place of his birth but he was enjoying home comforts as he fired an opening 64 at St Andrews on day one of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
The European Challenge Tour graduate hails from Tarbes in the south of France but has spent the last 18 months living in Dundee and it showed as he mastered the links on Scotland's east coast.
His prowess by the seaside has already been seen in 2019, with a tie for 15th at the Betfred British Masters and made cuts against world class fields at both the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open and the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open.
And after making nine birdies and a single bogey to sit just a shot of the lead after 18 holes at the European Tour's annual Pro-Am spectacular, Perez revealed the secret of his success.
"I live in Dundee," he said. "My girlfriend lives here, she goes to dental school here. I've lived here for the last year and a half.
"Obviously being around and playing links all the time when I'm not in tournaments definitely makes a big difference.
"It's just being used to the bounce and used to the greens. I think a lot of the guys struggle with the greens being slow and, for me, it's just a normal pace that I'm comfortable with.
"I don't think you can play enough links golf and it definitely played to my advantage today for sure.
"Conditions could have gone either way today with the rain and we got away with very slight wind and very good weather.
"I felt like the greens were receptive and a lot of scoring opportunities out there and I took advantage for sure, which was nice."
