The Scottish golf writers are a determined old bunch. Give us the slightest whiff of a tenuous Caledonian connection in a player from another country and we’ll have wrapped a kilt around him and claimed him as one of our own before you can say ‘I think his great, great Granny Doreen came from the Yetts O’ Muckhart’.

Jimmy Mullen sounds about as Scottish a name as Oor Wullie but that’s as far as it goes unfortunately. Even the combined forces of the parochial golf scribes and his own Glasgow-born dad, Hughie, can’t get the 21-year-old to pledge his allegiance to the saltire. “My dad tried to make me play for Scotland but I wasn’t having any of it,” said this son of deepest Devon.

It’s the cross of St George that is flying high in the home of golf at the halfway stage of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. Alongside his fellow Englishman, Anthony Wall, Mullen shares the lead on an 11-under aggregate of 133 as he continues the kind of dream debut that used to be the reserve of Roy of the Rovers. A three-under 69 over the Old Course, which followed up his shimmering 64 at Kingsbarns on Thursday, kept the rookie professional perched at the head of the standings in his first tour event as a member of the paid ranks. Talk about hitting the ground running.

Of course, the very nature of the Dunhill event, with its rotation around St Andrews, Kingsbarns and Carnoustie, provides the perfect stage for this kind of eye-opening show. The links game is the bread and butter of the amateur circuit and this has been a seamless transition for Mullen.

“We tried hard to get an invitation to this event because I’ve played the St Andrews Links Trophy here for the last three years as an amateur so I’ve probably had about 20 rounds here,” said Mullen. “I played Carnoustie six or seven times during June’s Amateur Championship too. So this is a big advantage for us players who have just turned pro because links golf was all we really played as amateurs.”

Mullen, who bowed out from the amateur scene in style by racking up four wins out of four as Great Britain and Ireland won the Walker Cup a few weeks ago, is certainly revelling in his lofty position. “I was looking at every leaderboard and it’s great to see your name up there as it simply shows you that you are playing well,” he added.

Leading a major European Tour event may be uncharted territory for this new recruit to the professional scene but he doesn’t have to look far to see a familiar face. His Walker Cup team-mate Paul Dunne, who also made the pro plunge just a couple of weeks ago and is making his tournament debut here, is lurking just a shot off the lead on 10-under after a two-under 70 on the Old Course.

Nobody has ever won a European Tour event on their debut but Mullen and Dunne are making a good fist of this tilt at the record books. Back in July, Dunne was leading the Open Championship heading into the final round at St Andrews. The scene that greeted the 22-year-old Irishman on the Old Course yesterday was slightly more tranquil but it still got the juices flowing. “It brought back a lot of good memories,” said the Dubliner, who is certainly not surprised to see two rookies in the mix. “I think the amateur schedule plays a big part. We don’t play professional golf but we play a professional schedule and can compete at this level.”

Compared to the fresh faces of Dunne and Mullen, co-leader Wall looks as experienced as Old Tom Morris. He’s been on the tour since 1998 and has just one win to his name but a telling thrust on his closing nine holes at the Old Course, which saw charge home in a five-under 31 en route to a 68, thrust him into a tie at the top.

Jamie Donaldson, who notched the winning point for Europe in last year’s Ryder Cup, roared into contention with a 65 at Kingsbarns for his 10-under tally while Marc Warren is the best of the Scots on seven-under after a 69 at Kingsbarns.