England's young Fisher on the march in the first round of the French Open

This week it was the turn of a teenage Englishman and a Spanish fisherman's son to shine.

While old hands Colin Montgomerie and Paul McGinley tried and failed again to revive their dwindling hopes of extending their Ryder Cup careers later this year the new generation was again on the march at the French Open.

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Job well done: Fisher acknowledges the crowd on the 18th green

After 23-year-old Kaymer's success in his home country's Open, Oliver Fisher and Pablo Larrazabal came to the fore in the opening round of a tournament which offers the biggest winner's cheque on continental Europe - £527,000.

Fisher, 19, was personally tutored by Nick Faldo and, from the day he turned professional at 18, his first sponsorship contract with Nike covered all his tour fees.

The only burden he has had to bear is expectation. After earning his first playing card at Tour School as an 18-year-old, he retained it last year with earnings of £169,000.

In March he almost pulled of his first victory at the Andalucian Open, only to be beaten in a playoff by France's Thomas Levet.

While this week's field is one of the strongest of the year to date in Europe, Fisher believes he has quickly picked up enough tour experience to make an impact.

'I think the near miss in Spain was a great confidence boost for me,' he said after an opening five-under-par 66, including five birdies, which left him one shot behind 25-year-old Larrazabal.

'To be paired with Lee Westwood in the last two rounds and to outplay him by a couple of shots was good in itself. But that was the first time I have been in contention and it's a a matter of improving and competing with the best guys in Europe regularly.'

Larrazabal's mother, father and brother Allessandro all represented Spain at World Cup level as amateurs but the family were loathe to let him try his luck in the professional game too early.

Instead he was made to work on the family fish farm in Santander, getting up at 5.30am to tend sea bass and dorada and he was not allowed to practise his golf until late in the afternoon.

'My father wanted me to understand the value of money as well as a hard day's labour and he made me do it for seven months,' he said.

'Being the rookie on the farm they gave me all the tough jobs and it was hard work.'

Larrazabal shot a 65 to lead by one shot, although he was briefly overtaken by Ireland's Peter Lawrie, who started with a double bogey but shot 10 birdies in the next 14 holes before signing for a 66 after two late dropped shots.

McGinley reached four under par before dropping back to level with a poor finish which ended with his ball taking a freak bounce off a sprinkler head and running on to a wooden bridge behind the 18th green.

After taking a penalty drop and running up a double-bogey six McGinley was in no mood to talk about his round.

Neither was Montgomerie, who needs to win this week to have any hope of making the Ryder Cup.

Starting at the 10th, he got to three under, but missed a short birdie putt on his final green and refused all media interviews, even though only four off the lead.