Andy Murray 'couldn't feel arms and legs' as retired tennis star out of comfort zone

Andy Murray revealed he feared he would hit a spectator with his golf ball because of nerves playing the Celebrity Pro-Am at the BMW PGA Championship. "I couldn't really feel my arms and legs," said the Scot.

Murray teamed up with fellow Scot and Ryder Cup star Bob MacIntyre, Jimmy Anderson and Anton Du Beke - the former Strictly Come Dancing partner of his mum Judy.

And after a nervy start, the three-time Grand Slam champion and seven-handicapper found his game on the West Course. He was hitting his drives over 250 yards and made two impressive sand saves.

"It was good," he said. "A brilliant experience for me. To be out there with one of the best in the world for me, it was brilliant. I was pretty nervous. I couldn't really feel my arms and legs. I didn't really hit any balls on the range beforehand. Yeah, I was feeling it. But it got better. It got better as the round went on.

"It's a different sort of nerves from Wimbledon because you are comfortable in the tennis environment. I'm not thinking I'm going to walk out on the tennis court and forget how to hit the ball. You just, you want to perform well. Whereas here, you're sort of nervous about -- there's people standing like five metres away from where I'm driving, and I'm like, I'm useless at this game. Yeah, you just want to try and keep the ball in play and don't mess up too much."

On a cool morning, Murray's group got under way on the 18th tee on the 8am shotgun start. Dressed in the golf kit of his company Castore, the Scot donned a green shirt with white underlayer.

Murray's opening drive - '"a runner" he called it - careered into a greenside bunker. Du Beke's carved shot hit a spectator who received a hug as compensation. Murray found the green in three after a nice pitch shot but left his uphill 12-foot birdie putt short.

Then onto the first tee in front of the clubhouse where a grandstand was packed in eager anticipation. Murray's practice swings were met with Ryder Cup-style cheers in rhythm - and there was the inevitable cheer of: "C'mon Tim!"

And when his second shot found a greenside bunker, another fan shouted: "Second serve". But his bunker shot rolled just five feet above the pin - and there was the first Murray fist pump when he rolled in the putt.

"I've not lost that," said the double Olympic winner. "Still enjoyed scoring and hitting good shots and stuff. I'm not bothered whether I win or lose in an event like this, but I still want to try to do as well as I can and I still enjoy competing.

"Obviously it's never going to replace what you had on the tennis court, but being out there with your friends and competing with them and against yourself and stuff is fun. You hit enough bad shots in golf, you've got to give yourself a pat on the back when you hit the odd good one."

MacIntyre hit his tee shot on the par-3 2nd hole to four feet and missed the putt - only for the three amateurs to all make birdies. When Du Beke drained his putt, a fan shouted out: "Seven". He turned and replied: "Two, actually!"

Du Beke, with matching blue, grey and white belt and shoes, was full of quips and energy all the way around the 18 holes. "Anton is the entertainer out there," said Murray. "Jimmy was really, really nice. He can hit the ball miles. And obviously playing with Bob MacIntyre, being a Scot, is really special, yeah."

Murray topped his tee shot on the seventh tee and cried out: "No!" And he found the water with his wedge playing into the eighth green. "The low point was I had an approach shot over water about 85 yards," he grimaced.

"For me, those distances, that's the thing I found really difficult, the sort of 50- to 80-yard shots I found hard. We were talking on the build up to it. Me and Jimmy were like: 'I hate these shots' and both of us hit it right in the middle of the water completely fat. I hit one really bad drive. For the most part it was solid. It was better than what I was expecting."

MacIntyre's group finished 16th out of the 20 teams on 16-under par with Tommy Fleetwood's team - playing with Tom Holland and the Hollywood's star's two brothers - won on 29-under par. The format was "Tour Scramble" with the amateurs playing the best tee shot and then their own ball from there.

Ryder Cup star MacIntyre won his first PGA Tour title at the Canadian Open with his father Dougie as his caddie in June - but there was to be no repeat with Murray with his dad Willie on his bag.

"My dad might be getting the sack after his performance today," he said. "He spent most of his time sort of following Bob around. I was like: 'I need my clubs; I need to putt'. But no, it was brilliant. For me, it's special, during my tennis career, I didn't get to spend loads of time with my dad travelling and everything. So getting to do that, it was a really cool day, as well. I don't know if he'll want to caddie for me again but I enjoyed having him here."