If the gossips were suggesting Phil Mickelson had turned up at the Scottish Open simply as a favour to his billionaire chum Lyle Anderson, who owns the club, then their mouths were clamped shut yesterday when the left-hander returned a six-under par 65; an awesome round, to use an American colloquialism chosen by his playing partner Graeme Storm, and one that placed the world number three on top of the leaderboard.

"He hit lots of shots, lots of shapes - high, low," the Englishman said, sounding more like an awestruck schoolboy than the well-regarded winner of the French Open on July 1st.

"Basically he just fitted the shots that the holes required. He shaped the ball from left to right, from right to left. And then there was the short game, which everybody knows about. You can learn a lot from playing with someone like that."

Storm's modesty was genuine and refreshing but also a little misplaced not least because he, too, signed for a 65 and the joint-leadership with Mickelson, Soren Hansen and Lee Westwood.

If anything Storm's round was a better effort than that of his illustrious partner; he put it together after a restless night caused by the prospect of playing with one of the world's best.

"Even though I have been playing well I didn't want to embarrass myself," he explained. "So I was very nervous standing on the tee at the start of the day."

The good news was he split the opening fairway and hit a great approach to the 10th - his first - green. He missed the putt but by then the anxiety had subsided. Mickelson, never less than a gentlemen, helped put Storm at ease.

"He was interested to know where I was from - we chatted about football. I told him I'd seen the New York Jets play and he was telling me that when he watches the football he has six television sets in his family room and watches all the games at the same time," Storm said.

Mickelson somehow managed to drag himself away from his TVs at the start of this week and spent time at Carnoustie preparing for next week's Open.

After a poor showing at the Masters and a missed cut at the US Open, where he was nursing a wrist injury, the American has something to prove over the next couple of weeks.

Ever the diplomat, Mickelson insisted he is concentrating on winning this tournament but it did not take much to turn him on to the subject of next week.

"I love the areas around the greens at Carnoustie because they will give me a chance to use my short game if I happen not to get into some trouble. It's a wonderful golf course; everything is terrific - the course, the hotel, the town," he said, as effusive as the man from the local tourist board.

Jose Maria Olazabal pulled out yesterday after a month struggling with an injury to his left knee and faces a battle to regain fitness for Carnoustie.

"I'm taking anti-inflammatories but it's still swollen and I'll need to have the fluid drained before I start practising fully again," said the Spaniard, whose place was taken by a compatriot, Rafael Cabrera Bello, who shot 75 when playing alongside Colin Montgomerie and Ian Poulter.

The Scot was involved in one of the day's stranger moments; he signed for a two-under 69, but not before he and Poulter returned to the scorers' hut after it appeared Montgomerie's card had been marked incorrectly.

The penalty for signing an incorrect card is disqualification.

"Forget it. It was nothing to worry about," Montgomerie said.

Try telling that to the sponsors and the Scottish fans who would have had to spend the next three days at home with their six TV sets tuned to Hollyoaks.

Ireland's Peter Lawrie and Paul McGinley are nicely placed on three-under-par 68, tied-17th and just three strokes off the lead.

Lawrie bogeyed the par-four first but was flawless thereafter and carded four birdies between the the third and the 13th.

McGinley was more adventurous, starting birdie, bogey, birdie. He birdied 12 and 13 before dropping a shot at the 16th but finished admirably with a birdie three at the last.

Simon Thornton of Adare Manor posted a level-par 71, a shot better than Damian McGrane and Gary Murphy.