It was the greatest of compliments, but potentially the heaviest of millstones to have been placed around the young neck of Rory McIlroy, professional golf’s teenage phenomenon. Better than Tiger Woods at the same age? Yessir! Absolutely!

Such opinions could generally be confined to the bin. But when they come from the likes of Mark O’Meara — twice a major champion, a friend and one-time mentor of the world No 1 — it is worth taking notice.

O’Meara played alongside McIlroy in the fog-curtailed first round of the Dubai Desert Classic yesterday and was mightily impressed with what he saw. And no wonder. The Northern Irishman, displaying a maturity beyond his 19 years, had an eight-under-par round of 64 that included nine birdies and gave him a one-stroke advantage over Robert Karlsson, of Sweden, at the top of the leaderboard.

Afterwards O’Meara was effusive in his praise for a youngster who has already climbed into the top 40 in the world and is preparing for his Masters debut in April. His progress is picking up speed and there is no knowing where it will end.

“Ball-striking wise, Rory is probably better than Tiger was at that age,” O’Meara said. “His technique is better. Certainly Tiger has developed his game and modified his swing over the years to be able to hit the ball pin-high, but Rory is already doing that at 19. He’s kind of a step ahead.

“I’ve witnessed Tiger at that age [Woods turned professional at 20] and have played a lot with Anthony Kim in the past two years, and Rory’s got all the tools to become an extremely dominant player in this game. His technique is extremely good.

“He hits it far enough, he is very composed and he has a great short game. I can’t see any weaknesses or why he can’t win many major championships. It’s hard to compare anyone with Tiger because of his mind and heart, but certainly Rory has those qualities, there’s no denying [that]. He shot eight under today but it looked pretty easy.”

For McIlroy, it was an equal thrill to play alongside the 1998 Masters and Open champion. He used to travel across to Wentworth to watch the World Match Play Championship and recalled the time, in 1999, that the American lost to Colin Montgomerie in the final, yet signed his ball and gave it to McIlroy to keep. “I’ve still got it,” he said.

While one young man is looking forward to a bright future and all the riches his talent will bring, another young player has a totally different perspective. At 28, Erik Compton, an American who plays mainly second-tier events, probably keeps pinching himself to make sure he is here. His round of 71 looks nothing special on paper, but is nothing of the sort.

This, incredibly, is a player who had a heart attack 18 months ago, a second heart transplant last May (he had his first at the age of 12) and who was playing professionally again less than six months later. He also has osteoporosis and does not know the meaning of self-pity. Quite simply, he is an inspiration and thoroughly deserving of his invitation to play here.

“Part of me wishes my wife and family were here to see me defying all the odds,” Compton said. “When I had the heart attack I never thought I’d play again and I was pretty beat up about it. But when I got my new heart, I made up my mind that I was going to get strong and healthy. I’ve been so blessed to be able to heal fast and to be athletic enough to do this.

“Mentally I’m probably as strong willed as anybody in the world. But it’s the physical challenges that I don’t do. I’ve had a lot of traumatic experiences, but I try to tell people that you have to put yourself out there. You have to compete and try to live life. You cannot give up.

“After two heart transplants, a heart attack and having osteoporosis pretty bad, I have the will to live and the will to be fit. If you took it [the golf] away, I would be worse.”

Dubai Desert Classic

Leading first-round scores (Great Britain and Ireland unless stated, play suspended with 20 players still to complete their rounds):

64: R McIlroy.

65: R Karlsson (Swe).

66: G Fernández-Castaño (Sp).

67: A Noren (Swe), G Havret (Fr).

68: P Casey, J Rose, L Oosthuizen (SA), G Storm.

69: A Velasco (Sp), M Erlandsson (Swe), S Strange (Aus), M Foster, O Fisher, R Jacquelin (Fr).

70: G McDowell, M Kaymer (Ger), R González (Arg), M Brown (US), A Quirós (Sp), T Jaidee (Thai), A Wall, M Turner, I Garrido (Sp), L Westwood.

71: S Webster, E Compton (US), J Sandelin (Swe), O Wilson, D Lynn, S Dyson, P Hanson (Swe), S Dodd.

72: F Aguilar (Chile), G Mulroy (SA), S Kapur (India), A Cañizares (Sp), D Frost (SA), K Ferrie.

73: D McGrane, Peter Lawrie, S Wakefield, J M Lara (Sp), M Tunnicliff, P Martín (Sp), T Levet (Fr), J Randhawa (India).

74: M Lundberg (Swe), R Dinwiddie, C Nirat (Thai), A Cañete (Arg), D Clarke, S Khan.

75: S Hansen (Den), G Murphy, P Hedblom (Swe), P Larrazábal (Sp), B Lane.

76: D Dixon, J Bickerton.

77: M O'Meara (US), D Horsey, P Archer, R McGowan.

From teen to green

Tiger Woods

Born December 30, 1975 in Cypress, California

Turned pro August 1996

Woods before 20

Shot 48 for nine holes, aged 3

US junior amateur champion, 1991, 1992, 1993

US Amateur champion, 1994, 1995, 1996

US Walker Cup team member, 1995

Eisenhower Trophy team member, 1994

Rory McIlroy

Born May 4, 1989 in Holywood, Northern Ireland

Turned pro September 2007

McIlroy before 20

Hit 40-yard drive, aged 2

Under-10s world champion, 1998

Ulster boys' under-18s champion, 2002, 2003, 2004

Irish boys' champion, 2004

Irish youth amateur open champion, 2004

European amateur champion, 2006

Faldo Series under-17s champion, 2006

World No 1-ranked amateur, 2007

Finished third in second professional event, the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship

Walker Cup team member, 2007

Eisenhower Trophy team member, 2006