DP World Tour : Alfred Dunhill Links Championship...Leaderboard Weather
Darren Fichardt took advantage of ideal playing conditions at Kingsbarns Golf Links on the opening day of the 2024 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, firing a stunning 61 to lead a star-studded field by a single shot.
edit **All that has changed for day 2 (Friday) with winds gusting to 40mph buffeting Scotland's SE coast. Click on weather above for the full forecast...
edit ** The Clubhouse leader after 36 holes is big hitting Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts who has made an incredible 16 birdies (65 St. Andrews, 65 Carnoustie) to get to -14
The 49-year-old South African shone on the greens as he carded two eagles, nine birdies and two bogeys to reach -11
After starting from the tenth tee and turning in 31, Fichardt made an eagle and four birdies in the first seven holes of his back nine to get the crowds on the Scottish coast excited about the prospect of a 59.
But those hopes were dashed by a bogey at the short eighth before a successful 12-foot birdie putt on the ninth saw him finish on a high.
Fichardt, who tied his lowest DP World Tour round on Thursday, sits a single shot clear of nearest challenger Cameron John, who shot a 62 at Kingsbarns.
Home favourite Scott Jamieson, New Zealand's Daniel Hillier - playing at the Old Course at St Andrews - and England's Andrew Wilson, who made a hole-in-one at the eighth at Kingsbarns in his spotless 63, were in a tie for third on -9
Fichardt was delighted with his day's work, saying: "That was good. That was sweet. I started with a birdie on my first hole, the tenth hole, and then I hit a really poor three-putt the next hole.
"I was like 'oh my goodness, it's going to be a grind today', and then made like a 100-foot putt for eagle on the next hole, and then the train just kept on going.
"It was really, really nice for everything just to fall like that.
Most of the big names were well back Shane Lowry for example started from the tenth tee at Carnoustie, flew out of the blocks with four birdies in a row. He would close his front nine with back-to-back bogeys on 17 and 18 but bounce back with three more birdies at the first, second and third on his way to a -4 68.
Billy Horschel, Patrick Reed were at 70 Brooks Koepka 71...
Rory was in at -3 69 and has set his sights on going low at Kingsbarns Golf Links on Friday after admitting he perhaps did not make the most of the weather at a notoriously tricky course.
"It's nice to get Carnoustie out of the way.
"It's a course where we had perfect conditions for it. So I feel like I could have taken advantage of it a bit more.
"But yeah, Kingsbarns, a course where if you do get decent conditions, obviously historically, there's been a lot of low scoring.
My Dad Gerry has his 65th birthday on Saturday so to be able to stroll around the Old Course with him on his 65th is going to be a pretty cool occasion.
"Delighted to be out here with him, and hopefully we can make a few more birdies tomorrow."
American Hudson Swafford made 3 bogey's and a snowman 8 on the16th at St Andrew's on his way to 77 for the days highest score.
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus (edit)
No comments:
Post a Comment