Callum Shinkwin did not expect to be playing in the British Masters when he went to bed last night. The Moor Park Golf Club professional’s hopes of playing in his home-town tournament had been all but ended by being way down the reserve list. But any plans he had for today were rapidly ripped up at this morning when he was lying in bed, picked up his phone and saw three missed calls from the European Tour.

The late withdrawal of Thomas Bjorn had opened the door and by 8.28am Shinkwin was at The Grove and 12 minutes later he was teeing off alongside Bardley Dredge and Marc Warren on the tenth.

Perhaps not surprisingly in the circumstances, the former English Amateur champion got off to a tricky start and was three-over-par after three holes, but a run of three birdies in five holes saw him eventually finish on even par.

Shinkwin described his round as “not too bad” and told the Watford Observer: “I got off to a really bad start in the first six holes, but I managed to grind it out and get back to level par for the tournament and I’m not far away now.”

Asked how the course was playing: “The wind’s in a different direction to what I’ve normally played the course in so it made a few holes play a lot shorter. I made a mistake in picking up the wrong yardage book – I got a metres book instead of yards – so the start was a bit weird leaving a few shots short, but I got used to it.

“That’s the first time I’ve played off the back tees for 18 holes around here and it makes a few holes play a lot different. Only five-under par is leading from the early starters, normally it’s a lot lower than that so it’s not playing as easy as it did when they played the WGC around here [in 2006].

Such was the speed of events this morning, Shinkwin called on his cousin – the light-heavyweight boxer Miles Shinkwin – to carry his bag and he joked: “Part-time caddie. He’ll be sacked at the end of the week.”