It wasn’t quite the Ryder Cup. The last time a golfing team tussle was staged over the PGA Centenary course here at Gleneagles back in 2014, the snaking masses were forming vast queues at the gates long before the larks had even wearily flapped at the snooze button.

Yesterday’s opening round of group matches in the inaugural European Golf Team Championships, meanwhile, was as low key as an A note played on the piano.

Even the television coverage of the golfing arm of this multi-sport carnival doesn’t actually start until the third day of competition tomorrow, by which point any curious observers could be tuning in to a series of thrilling dead rubbers.

In the country which gave golf to the world, who wants to actually watch it on the box when you can flick on the open water dooking from Loch Lomond instead?

The purple-clad ranks of the Glasgow 2018 volunteer force, a sizeable assembly which would just about overwhelm a Kitchener recruitment drive, were out in force as usual. More so than the actual spectators.

But Gleneagles, as always, looked delightful in the occasional bursts of sunshine and there’s a lot to be said for that soothing sense of genteel tranquillity. “I quite like it this way,” said the new Women’s British Open champion, Georgia Hall, after swapping the rousing roars of Royal Lytham for the more modest ripples of appreciation on the PGA Centenary course. Well, it sounded like a ripple if you had your hearing trumpet in.

With all the hooting, hollering and championing that’s going on down the road in Glasgow, with a variety of Team GB cyclists and swimmers picking up a number of medals amid a triumphant fanfare, the golfing Brits did their bit yesterday to whip up early hopes of further success with some purposeful performances during the opening series of round robin encounters in the fourball, better-ball format.

From six GB pairings in total – three apiece on the male and female front – the home contingent racked up four wins, a defeat and a halved match. That solitary loss had to come. Both GB teams were playing each other.

It was a good day for the Scots involved too, with Catriona Matthew, Michele Thomson, Connor Syme and Liam Johnston all getting wins under their belts.

In their all-British tussle with Rhys Enoch and Charlie Ford, Syme and Johnston dove-tailed nicely and a key moment of the match arrived in its opening exchanges.

One-down after five, Johnston holed a tricky putt across the slope for a par to halve the hole. That provided the catalyst for a telling thrust as Syme went on to birdie three holes in a row from the seventh as the Scots alliance took charge.

“That putt of mine on the sixth was big in terms of momentum and Connor took it from there,” said Johnston (left) of that decisive

little spell.

The day had started with the aforementioned Hall and her playing partner Laura Davies posting an impressive 5&4 win over the Spanish duo of Noemi Jimenez and

Silvia Banon.

The English pair’s better-ball was nine-under during a largely dominant display. “They [Spain] only won one hole and we just didn’t give them many chances,” said Davies, who won the WPGA Matchplay Championship at Gleneagles back in 2001.

It’s 10 years now since Michele Thomson last played in a golf team event during the 2008 Curtis Cup but the Aberdonian revelled in the opportunity yesterday as she combined with Meghan MacLaren to record a 5&4 win over Icelandic LPGA Tour player Olafia Kristindottir and her compatriot Valdis Thora Jonsdottir.

MacLaren, who won her first Ladies European Tour title in Australia earlier this season, also enjoyed the cut-and-thrust of team competition.

“There was a little bit of eye contact between Michele and myself when we were considering whether to give them a putt or not,” said the Northampton youngster with a smile as she underlined the competitive nip-and-tuck.

Matthew and playing partner, Holly Clyburn, had “nine holes of warming up” before they really got going to complete a 3&2 victory over Emma Nilsson and Lina Boqvist of Sweden.

Matthew will captain Europe in the Solheim Cup against the US at Gleneagles next year. Clyburn wants to be back here too.

“Getting on that team is a huge goal of mine,” said Clyburn of her Perthshire push.