Osborne is on Faldo shortlist

Osborne, a consistent winner as an amateur, revealed the transition to the paid ranks was not as difficult as he feared. Before heading out under cloudless skies perfect for good golf he revealed: "My game was steadily improving but then one day I suddenly though 'I'm all right, a decent player'.

"I've come to realise I don't need to be really technical or work on a whole lot of things to try and get better. At this level you just need to let things happen, and when I do that I usually play good."

That is a mindset adopted to devastating effect by Jimenez, the veteran Spaniard who always plays as though he doesn't have a care in the world.

Indeed, why should he worry when he's capable of chipping to within an inch of the flag like he did on his fourth hole, the 550 yards par five 13th, and sinking 30 foot putts like he did two holes later for an opening nine in five under 32?

Westwood's focus came to the fore when he split the face of his driver on the 13th. The referee was despatched to the locker room to retrieve a spare club that Westwood had never used before, but he proceeded to hit a succession of screamers to move to seven under in company with Ryder Cup teammate David Howell.

Meanwhile, Brian Davis continued to impress in his rookie season on the USPGA Tour in the first round of the Ford Championship in Florida.

The 30-year-old Londoner shot an eight-under-par 64 to tie for the lead with Phil Mickelson, Spain's Jose Maria Olazabal and Marco Dawson in perfect conditions at Doral Resort's Blue Monster course.