Casey’s play in the first round suggests that he has regained the form he demonstrated last month, first in the World Match Play at Wentworth and then, one week later, in Europe’s colours at the K Club. He is in the enviable position of finding that golf is, if not easy, certainly not that difficult.

Not that he was admitting to any such feelings, however, knowing that if he did, hubris would soon be calling around to give him a good clip on the ear and remind him that no one ever masters the game for any length of time. “It never feels easy, especially on a day like this when we had a good start, a little drizzle and a cold wind coming in,” Casey said.

“I am just trying to keep the game very simple and it seems to be working. I still feel tired but I began today with a good attitude and didn’t expect much. That is what I am going to do for the rest of the week. I am not going to change my routine and go all serious just because I am out in front.”

Casey has such raw power at his disposal, it is not surprising that, when he is on song, he can bring almost any length of course to its knees. Kingsbarns, at 7,000 yards and with litle wind, was no match for him. He cut it to shreds in his round of 63, nine under par. A decent number of spectators lasted the 5½ hours it took him to get round and they saw him make seven birdies as well as the eagle. He had twos on three of the four short holes.

Howell did not have anything like such a happy day. He trailed Casey by a little more than £80,000 in the Order of Merit at the start of it and by 12 strokes at the end of it. Howell’s 75 at Kingsbarns was the score of a man who is not fit, though he did birdie the 9th, his 18th, one of only two birdies all day. His shoulder was the culprit and it has surely stopped him from mounting any challenge to his friend. It would be a minor miracle if Howell managed to get through to the final day on Sunday. He is at present 145th.

It was a toss-up which of Howell and Paul McGinley felt worse in their group. You could tell the arrival of McGinley was imminent by his cough. It was as though a barking seal was coming up the fairway. Thick with cold, he sounded like a man who should have been in a BUPA hospital, not wearing a sweater with the BUPA logo on it.

McGinley was partnered by Kyle MacLachlan, the actor, who looks as though he knows more about golf than most amateurs, while Howell was partnered by Hugh Grant, who supported Howell to such good effect that their twosome is three under par.

“I am not going to think about the Order of Merit,” Casey said, not altogether convincingly. “My goal this week is to have fun, enjoy playing with the amateurs. I cannot control what the other guys are doing. I have David behind me and Padraig (Harrington, who went round in 66 at Kingsbarns) and Robert (Karlsson, who went round in 68 at Kingsbarns) and they are very much in it.”

Casey might have added the name of Henrik Stenson to this list because the big-hitting Swede had the same score as Karlsson at the same course and is fourth in the Order of Merit, approximately £483,000 behind him.

The point remains, however, that no matter how many men are chasing Casey and no matter how close they may be, if the Englishman continues to play the way he is, they will not be close for much longer.

TIMES MAN SUFFERS VAN DER VELDE DAY AT CARNOUSTIE
It was time to put his game to the test for The Times assistant sports editor, Craig Tregurtha, who is playing in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship

DON’T YOU just love golf? Three days’ practice, weeks of anticipation, sleepless nights dreaming of glory . . . and then you stand on the first tee at Carnoustie and hit a duck hook that nearly kills a marshal.