The 15-year-old setting out in Young Tom's famous footsteps

"My achievements do not change or affect my normal way of life. The art of war is not to make war and I am at peace with myself. I do not see this as pressure because it brings pleasure and hope to many." That these are the words of a sportsman is startling enough, but from the mouth of a 15-year-old the effect is spellbinding.

But then Abbas-Ali Mawji is no normal 15-year-old. While his schoolmates in Harare have spent their early years doing what adolescents do – blowing up aliens on game consoles – Mawji has waged a war of a different kind, breaking records in golf almost as quickly as his contemporaries break PlayStations. And today he will attempt to make his biggest breakthrough, one that would make the golfing world sit up and listen to a mantra which even from a teenager sounds a little far-fetched. "The future of golf is Mawji," Abbas-Ali states with total belief.

This morning, at one of four courses in the Edinburgh area, he will be one of 384 golfers chasing one of the 25 or so remaining places in the starting line-up for this week's Open Championship at Muirfield. While Mawji will be joining a collection of former Ryder Cup men, Tour journeymen and other wide-eyed hopefuls competing over two rounds, it is only he who can make history. For if Mawji can be one of the handful to emerge from the dunes and heather of New Luffness, then at 15 he would become the youngest golfer to play in The Open since Young Tom Morris earned his sobriquet at the age of 14 in 1865.

The portents are good for the young man born in Watford but brought up in Zimbabwe. Not only did he win his regional qualifying event at Alwoodley near Leeds last Monday, but Mawji has since shot a 68, three under par, on his very first visit to New Luffness on Thursday. This schoolboy has been well-schooled in doing the unexpected since he took up the game at the age of six. By eight, he had a 10 handicap, by 10 he was playing off five and was being introduced by his coach, Lewis Muridzo, one of Zimbabwe's few black professionals, thus: "This is Abbas-Ali. He's the next world champion."

The boy took it to heart, cleaning up in Zimbabwe's age events before becoming, as a 13-year-old, the youngest player in the world ever to qualify for a national open, at Royal Harare Golf Club in November 2000. The Mawji dream has been gaining substance ever since, and this year he became the youngest club champion in Africa, at Borrowdale Brook, while at the same time setting a course record of 65.

It would be an impressive start to any golf career, never mind that of a young man of Indian extraction raised in the unfashionable golfing confines of Zimbabwe. Mawji himself is under no illusions whom he has to thank. "Choose the right parents and then convince them that you are the best," he advises any would-be prodigies. "The rest is a piece of cake."

Indeed, it has helped that his father, Kassim, a British-origin Indian who moved to Zimbabwe in the 1970s, is one of Harare's most revered doctors and not only has the wherewithal but also the passion to back his son's global mission. Since the violent political upheavals in Zimbabwe that have seen many a golf course claimed as farming land, Mawji, a dual-passport holder, has been sent to stay with relatives near Manchester and now hones his skills at the Houghwood Golf Club in nearby St Helens.

Mawji Snr has employed a manager to oversee his son's development, and great lengths have been taken to show that Abbas-Ali's education has not been affected by his sport. This includes a headmaster's reference being posted on the youngster's own website, another portal that defines him from most teenagers. "Abbas is a very intelligent and well-motivated student," reads the report from the Harare Heritage High School. "In close consultation with his father, a scheme of study has been drawn up which allows Abbas-Ali to give his golfing career the time it requires, yet allows him to pursue his academic studies."

It seems, therefore, that Team Mawji have left nothing to chance in their assault on the golfing history books, but there is one thing that does keep altering a schedule worked out months, if not years, in advance – Abbas-Ali himself. "We hadn't planned to try to qualify for The Open until next year," his manager, Stuart Holmes, said. "But he was playing so well we had to."

As an 11-year-old, Mawji responded to a reporter's quip that he would come back and see him in 15 years when he was in contention for a Major by saying "Don't leave it that long. Six or seven years, at most." The boy might start proving today that he is ahead of even his own schedule.