Miguel Angel Jimenez proved age was no barrier to quick - and successful - golf with an opening 67 in the inaugural Shot Clock Masters, where none of the field were penalised for slow play.
This week's event at Austria's Diamond Country Club is the first in professional golf to time every shot from all 120 players in the field, with a digital clock operated by a referee mounted on a buggy which followed each group.
Players had 50 seconds to take their shot if they were first to play, including tee shots on par threes, or 40 seconds for tee shots on other holes or when second or third to play.
They faced a one-shot penalty for each bad time incurred, but remarkably none were handed out and Jimenez and playing partners Wade Ormsby and Nicolas Colsaerts completed their round in three hours, 57 minutes.
Scotland's Connor Syme and Bradley Neil are two shots off the lead after rounds of 68, while Northern Irish teenager Tom McKibbin enjoyed an impressive European Tour debut with an opening 71.
The 15-year-old amateur, who is from the same Holywood club as four-time major winner Rory McIlroy, was three under par after nine holes and recovered from a double bogey on the 11th with seven straight pars.
Gavin Moynihan sits alongside McKibbin on one-under, with Ruaidhri McGee two further shots back.
Miguel Ángel Jiménez signs for a 67 👏🏻
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) June 7, 2018
A great start to the week for the Spaniard.#ShotClockMasters pic.twitter.com/8W2nA06Cck
"I think I've never played that quick before," Jimenez, 54, said. "I feel like I was running a marathon there but it was good.
"You hear when the time starts and know you have 40 or 50 seconds but I know it's plenty of time. The most important thing is to be ready when it's time to play, because if not it's going to catch you."
Jimenez, who is the oldest winner in European Tour history following his Spanish Open victory in 2014, carded five birdies in his last eight holes to share second place with Peter Hanson and Tapio Pulkkanen on five under par, a shot behind Sweden's Oscar Lengden.
Hanson also approved of the new format and told Sky Sports: "It's so much fun to play. You don't overdo things, you don't think too much and everyone's ready to play and I think this is the way we should play golf."
The experiment has also gone down well on the other side of the Atlantic, with Billy Horschel writing on Twitter: "Loving this shot clock deal on the @EuropeanTour.
"Amazing how fast rounds go when players play within the rules. And guys are still playing great golf. Shocking!! ....wish we had something like this on the @PGATOUR."
