EUROPEAN OPEN:A COUPLE of swipes on the range, a bit of lunch, four practice putts – all holed – then on to the tee for his first shot as a professional golfer. Welcome to the world of Shane Lowry, 3 Irish Open champion and new celebrity of the European golf.

Just over five hours later he walked off the 18th with a 78 on his card but his easy-going philosophy still intact: “I’m not going to change just because I’m on the European Tour,” he said to the media, whose presence outside the scorer’s hut is just one of the differences Lowry will have to get used to.

It wasn’t nerves he said, but a “flat feeling” that contributed to a round that mixed glimpses of his prodigious talent with naivety in equal measure, containing six bogies, one double and two birdies.

His first tee shot as a pro was a screamer, a booming drive that split the fairway of the 398-yard slight dogleg right. It left just a wedge in to a flag that was tucked behind two bunkers.

Risk and reward, stick or twist, these are the decisions that define a pro golfer’s life.

His playing partners Paul McGinley and Anthony Wall played safe and left, taking the bunkers out of play, making easy pars.

Lowry went straight at it – “Not a great yardage for me. I hit a hard 52-degree wedge and came out of it” – coming up short and leaving a tricky chip from the verge, the ball above his feet.

His first effort rolled past and he missed coming back: bogey start, welcome to big school.

The after-shocks of that first hole were felt throughout the front nine, and by the sixth hole Lowry was four over and contemplating a horror show of 80-plus.

His swing quickened, resulting in hooks with the driver off the fourth, fifth and sixth tees.

On the last of these, the ball was found after a frantic minute or two peering into the deep rough on the left of the fairway.

A slash out, a duffed pitch and three putts for a double bogey six.

Things could only get better from there, and Lowry played a beautiful high seven iron into the 187-yard par three seventh hole, greeted by a word of encouragement from McGinley.

The 10-foot birdie putt dropped, greeted by a rare smile from Lowry. And despite dropping four more shots to par on the remaining holes, he was beginning to play much better.

He was very unlucky to find a treacherous hanging lie in the bunker to the left of the 12th green and his recovery caught the edge of the trap before trickling back in.

It was a foot or so from being the best shot he hit all day, one of those that require great hands and raw talent. He took the par, and his swing noticeably calmer, began to hit the shorter grass.

“I knew it was going to be tough, it’s not an easy course,” said Lowry, fending off inquiries into his quirky pre-round routine. “I didn’t prepare myself to shoot 78.”

The line he offered was that this was no different – “It’s a golf course, the same thing I’ve been trying to do for the last few years” – which is an admirable, perhaps essential, mindset given the speed at which he has made the transition.

“I’m not trying to make excuses, but I’ve played 12 holes between today and the Irish Open, which is obviously not the best preparation.”

And no, there were no plans for practice before today’s round either.

The contrast with his partner McGinley was a telling one.

The Dubliner spent the day walking the short grass on his way to two under, a full eight shots ahead of Lowry.

McGinley was typically generous: “He’s a class player, he’ll be glad to get this day over with and things will die down. He’s got the game, we can all see that, he just has to eat up experience.

“It would have been tough for anybody. He’ll get better.”

He was nervous, he said, and “he’s propelled himself into another stratosphere.”

When asked whether he wanted to give advice to the youngster, McGinley quipped, “He won the 3 Irish Open two weeks ago, he’s in better form than I am.”

Rory McIlroy, who opened his account yesterday with a three-under-par 69, had some soothing words for his friend, who he said “won’t care” about the score.

“He’s got a two-year exemption on the Tour! It’s a 78, one round of golf doesn’t determine a career.”