McIlroy is head bully as Old Lady of St Andrews is bruised

"Nice," said McIlroy when asked to describe his opening 63 at St Andrews, the lowest first-round score in the 150-year history of the Open and the joint-lowest score in any golfing major.

It was the shining jewel on a morning when the old lady of

St Andrews was left naked by an absence of wind and the deluge of rain this week which had left the course soft and receptive.

But "nice" still came nowhere close, nowhere near to revealing the nerve and the brilliance which make the 21-year-old from Northern Ireland the most natural golfing talent since Tiger Woods turned professional back in 1996.

It was rather like George Best, that greatest of Northern Irish sportsmen, describing his destruction of Benfica in the Stadium of Light back in 1966 as "a bit of fun".

Actually, Best's two-goal performance that night in a 5-1 victory for Manchester United earned him the soubriquet 'El Beatle' and projected him to global stardom.

In years to come we might remember McIlroy's historic round at St Andrews in the same way: a round of aggression, the round of a man who saw the opportunity with the flags hanging limp and lifeless and seized the day.

And the comparison was swift and obvious, considering Woods's best round in a major was 64 at Troon in 1997 when he was also 21.

That is not meant to heap unmanageable expectation on the shoulders of a young man still at the start of his journey in the professional world.

It is just an obvious observation as Woods was later to put into words. "Rory's an amazing talent," he said.

McIlroy, right, played the last 10 holes in eight under par, and it should have been nine after an exquisite approach to three feet at the 17th Road Hole only for him to miss the birdie putt.

He has clearly taken confidence from the triumph of his compatriot and practice partner Graeme McDowell in last month's US Open and might yet help ease the disappointment of a summer which has witnessed England's dreadful World Cup and Andy Murray coming up just short again at Wimbledon.

But while McIlroy gave the Open a magical start it was a day when so many weighed in, bullying the old course in the same way that batsmen might batter the bowlers on a flat track.

All day the scoreboard was vivid red but it was the names on it which heightened the excitement.

None more so than that of John Daly, the big-hitting, hard-living, weight-fluctuating, cigarette-smoking, grip-it-and-hit-it champion of 1995.

Daly might not be the most consistent performer these days but at 44 he remains one of the most popular and colourful figures on the tour and his trousers make Ian Poulter's look distinctly staid.

And he can still play, his straight hitting and solid putting taking him to six under par.

That was one shot better than Woods, who professed to be delighted with the respectful reception he was afforded by the St Andrews galleries.

His new putter, too, mainly behaved itself, apart from a three-foot miss on the 17th green which was uncharacteristically jerky and left him with the only bogey on his card.

There were more wonderful scores, 65 from South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen, 66 from Scotland's Andrew Coltart and England's Steven Tiley on a day when shooting par turned out to be some way below par, if you get the drift.

A day when McIlroy, who has never failed to beat 70 for a round at St Andrews, made the most glorious of openings.