Jones and Heath lead as Hopkins catches the eye at Quinta do Lago

Youthful exuberance stole the show on a sparkling opening day at the Telegraph Vitality Junior Golf Championship in the sun-soaked Algarve.

Charlotte Heath, 15, in her first competitive event abroad, was nerveless on the lightning-quick greens to post a 70 and lead the girls’ event. And Max Hopkins, at 14 the youngest player here, is in contention in the boys’ 54-hole strokeplay competition after a fearless 71.

Heath cast off any early nerves with a 12ft birdie putt on the 6th. “I had a rough start but I was confidently scrambling and knew that I could hole putts,” she said.

Aiming to become the first winner from Yorkshire since Matthew Fitzpatrick in 2012, she leads another 15-year-old, Annabell Fuller, by one stroke. Defending champion Hannah Screen is four shots off the pace after a 74.

Her overnight lead may force her friends at home to revise their perceptions of her chosen sport.“I don't think I'm going to change their opinion but I will give it a try,” added Heath, who won the National Counties final with Yorkshire this year. “They think golf's weird and a sport for men.”

Those who witnessed Hopkins’ fizzing approach to the par-five 18th would have been forgiven for taking a second glance at his slender build and youthful looks.

His fairway wood landed within 15ft and he made a birdie to head into today’s second round two strokes behind leader Ben Jones.

Hopkins, a member at Bishop’s Stortford, was far from overawed in the company of Alfie Fox and the defending champion Harry Goddard, who shot a course-record 66 here last year but had a disappointing start yesterday, finishing with a 78.

Already an England Under-18 squad member, Hopkins said after his round: “I’m not in it for nothing.”

Jones, the Northamptonshire teenager who won the Henry Cooper Junior Masters by 10 strokes, raced to four under par on the front nine but had a run of three straight bogeys before recovering his composure to finish on three under par.

Leading scores

ROUND 1 - Telegraph Vitality Junior Championships

Girls:

• Charlotte Heath 70

• Annabell Fuller 71

• Lily May Humphreys 74

• Hannah Screen 74

• Annabel Wilson 75

• Louise Duncan 77

• Ana Dawson 78

• Jessica Hall 79

• Martha Lewis 79

Boys:

• Ben Jones 69

• William Hopkins 70

• James Wilson 70

• Alfie Fox 70

• Max Hopkins 71

• Thomas Plumb 76

• Enrique Dimayuga 76

• Charles Petrie 77

• Adam Tridgell 77

• Harry Goddard 78

• Greg Hurley 81

• Goncarlo Teodoro 83