Rory McIlroy remembers being just 10 years old when Sergio Garcia won the 1999 Irish Open at the tender age of 19.

Like everyone else, he was thrilled by Garcia's daredevil shot from close to the bough of a tree during that year's US PGA at Medinah and will never forget the loping run, skip and jump across the fairway which made 'El Nino' a byword for excitement in sport.

Well 19-year-old McIlroy returned the compliment during yesterday's opening round of the Abu Dhabi Championship as he and Garcia played together for the first time on Tour in a dream three-ball with Henrik Stenson.

Garcia certainly enjoyed the company of Europe's new El Nino as they fired eight birdies each en route to spectacular 66's and a share of fourth place, one stroke behind co-leaders Ian Poulter, his fellow Englishman Richard Bland and South Africa's Keith Horne.

Indeed, Ryder Cup star Stenson, the reigning US Players Champion, was made to look pedestrian as he shot a modest 70.

“It was awesome,” enthused Garcia, now 30, of an idyllic afternoon with McIlroy in the Arabian Desert. “It's good to have a chance to play with Rory. He's an unreal player, one whose name is going to be remembered in golf throughout the ages.”

Garcia bogeyed the third and fourth but rebounded well with three birdies in the next four holes, while McIlroy was coasting along at four-under par when he took an ugly double-bogey six at 11.

If he'd been rattled by this setback, the Holywood starlet certainly didn't let it show as he whipped a superlative 6-iron tee shot about three feet past the pin for birdie at 12, following up with another at 13. Damage repaired!

“Yeah, I'm very happy,” he said of his first competitive round of the new decade. “Apart from that loose tee shot at 11, it was really good. I made a mental error on the tee there, probably didn't hit the right club,” McIlroy explained of the drive which slid right into deep trouble in thick undergrowth. “I then tried to take too much on with the second shot.”

After failing with that ill-advised bid to get out of the cabbage, the youngster finally took his medicine, a penalty drop.

This episode would have rattled many an older man but for McIlroy it served as an opportunity to show his remarkable resilience.

“To drop two shots like that and then get them back on the next two holes, it's huge,” he explained. “That's the thing I've learned a lot of great players do. Once they make a mistake, they try to rectify it as soon as they can and I was able to do that today, which really helped me get to six-under par.”

Garcia and McIlroy both saw scope for improvement.

“I made a lot of birdies and converted a lot of chances,” said the Ulster prospect.

“If I can play like that and cut out the mistakes, I could score and 63 or 64 out there,” he added.

One guy who certainly rediscovered the ability to grind a score out of adversity yesterday was Darren Clarke, whose short game was almost Harrington-esque as he matched the two-under par 70's posted by his partners, Graeme McDowell and Anthony Kim.