England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick is the youngest player contesting this week’s British Masters however the 21-year old showed his older rivals the way on day one of the event at Woburn.
A birdie-birdie finish saw Fitzpatrick post a seven under par 64 under preferred lies to lead by one in the £3m event.
The Englishman was just 14 years old the last time this tournament was played on The European Tour in 2008 and recorded an eagle and six birdies to be a shot ahead of a vastly experienced chasing pack made up of Robert Karlsson, Marc Warren, Søren Kjeldsen and Lee Slattery.
“Tee to green, it is pretty tough if you don’t hit in the fairway,” he added.
“The rough isn’t deep but it’s quite wet so it clings to the face and it’s difficult to get it the normal distance of your irons. It’s a test all round but tee to green it’s been tough.”
Matthew Fitzpatrick at 21 years of age is the youngest player in the field and leads by one after the first round.
Fitzpatrick has three top threes in his last seven starts and believes he is learning something new every week on The European Tour.
“It was a tough start. I missed quite a few cuts in a row at the start of the year, even though I felt I was playing all right,” he said.
“Now I’ve been playing decent and getting the right results that I’ve been looking for.
“(I’ve been) getting so much experience just week-to-week learning more about myself, tournaments everything and that’s been the biggest thing.”
Karlsson had looked like he was going to take a one shot lead into day two as the man who won the Order of Merit the last season this event was played walked up the 18th on seven under with Fitzpatrick a shot and a hole behind.
The 46 year old had made steady progress up the leaderboard throughout the day with birdies on the second, fifth, seventh and ninth holes taking him to the turn in four under.
He then birdied the 11th and with another gain at the 14th courtesy of a 15 foot putt, he joined long-time leaders Warren and Slattery at the top of the pile.
Kjeldsen finished his round with a birdie to get to six under but a second consecutive gain from Karlsson had him out in front on his own down the stretch.
The leader then hit a ragged tee shot on the 18th to drop back into a share of top spot and was joined by Fitzpatrick who birdied the 17th to join the party atop a congested leaderboard.
Fitzpatrick, who is only playing this week due to an invite but has six top tens this term, then birdied the last as he seeks his first European Tour win in just his 34th event.
The 2013 US Amateur Champion had earlier birdied the first but gave the shot straight back before birdies on the the fifth and sixth were followed by that eagle on the 538 yard par five seventh.
Another birdie followed on the 13th before Fitzpatrick’s big finish sent the crowd of just under 15,000 home having witnessed a dramatic day.
Warren and Slattery had held the lead for most of the afternoon before Kjeldsen, Karlsson and then Fitzpatrick mounted a late charge.
Birdies at the 14th and 16th saw the Scotsman turn in two under and when further gains followed on the first and third, he was level at the top with early pace-setter Slattery.
Slattery then dropped a shot but Warren made another gain on the fifth and when he tapped in from inside two feet on the seventh, he held a two-stroke advantage, but that was not to last for long.
Slattery began with three pars but picked up back-to-back shots on the fourth and fifth holes and another followed on the seventh before a further gain on the ninth moved him to the top of the pile.
He dropped a shot on the 12th but then made birdies on the 16th, 17th and 18th to continue his good form after winning the M2M Russian Open and finishing in a tie for second at the KLM Open last month.
Kjeldsen, meanwhile, went about his business quietly, making gains on the first, second, seventh, tenth and 11th before that birdie on the 18th handed him a brief share of the lead.
