Justin Walters: First Round Leader at Alfred Dunhill Links Championship

South Africa’s Justin Walters leads the way after the first round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship thanks to an opening round of 63.

The tournament is unique, with three courses in action over the first three days. Justin Walters shot his nine-under-par round on the Old Course at St. Andrews on Thursday.

Carnoustie and Kingsbarns are the other two courses in action this week, with the cut coming after three days before the fourth and final round will take place at St. Andrews on Sunday.

The South African went bogey-free around the Old Course, with nine birdies and nine pars to lead by one shot after the opening round.

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Four men sit in a tie for 2nd after shooting -8, one behind Justin Walters. Three of those, in Victor Perez, Ryan Fox, and Jordan Smith also played at St. Andrews on the first day of the tournament.

Meanwhile, Adrian Otaegui shot the low round of the day at Kingsbarns, with a bogey-free round putting him in contention for the week.

The lone man in the top ten that played at Carnoustie on day one is Matthew Southgate. The Englishman sits in a tie for 6th, two shots back from the lead, after carding a first-round 65.

He is joined by Tapio Pulkkanen, Jaco Alhers, and Kristoffer Reitan, who all played at St. Andrews on day one, while Richie Ramsay and Paul Waring are also amongst that group having spent their Thursday’s at Kingsbarns.

2017 Race To Dubai champion Tommy Fleetwood is among those at -6, along with the likes of Tyrrell Hatton and Russell Knox, while Tony Finau, Lucas Bjerregard and Christiaan Bezuidenhout sit at -5.

Over 120 players shot under-par during opening day. Justin Rose (-4), Alex Noren (-3), Rory McIlroy (-2), Matt Wallace (-2), and Jon Rahm (-1) are all in the red.

Another man in the red in Lee Westwood, whose first round of 69 at Carnoustie sees him sit in a tie for 53rd. However, he did this at the par-3 8th hole.

https://twitter.com/EuropeanTour/status/1177242243461263361

Last week’s BMW PGA Championship winner, Danny Willett, started his week in Scotland with a level-par round of 72 at Carnoustie.

He is joined by Scottish Open winner Bernd Wiesberger and 2009 US Open champion Graeme McDowell, with all three among the group in a tie for 122nd.

It was a bad day for the likes of Shane Lowry and Thomas Bjorn, who both ended the day over par, among just 29 golfers to do so. However, Erik van Rooyen had the worst day of all. The South African shot a 77 at Carnoustie to sit in 168th and last place, at +5.

In the pro-am team’s event, three teams sit at -12 after carding first rounds of 60 between them. They include the partnership of New Zealand’s Ryan Fox and Australian cricketing legend Shane Warne. The Aussie contributed four birdies, while Fox had six birdies and an eagle.

Leaderboard:

(S = St Andrews, C = Carnoustie, K = Kingsbarns):

1 (-9): Justin Walters (S, RSA)
T2 (-8): Victor Perez (S, FRA), Jordan Smith (S, ENG), Ryan Fox (S, NZL), Adrian Otaegui (K, ESP)
T6 (-7): Tapio Pulkkanen (K, FIN), Jaco Ahlers (S, RSA), Kristoffer Reitan (S, NOR), Richie Ramsay (K, SCO), Paul Waring (K, ENG), Matthew Southgate (C, ENG)

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Selected Others:

T12 (-6): Tyrrell Hatton (C, ENG), Tommy Fleetwood (C, ENG), Russell Knox (S, SCO)
T23 (-5): Christiaan Bezuidenhout (S, RSA), Tony Finau (C, USA), Lucas Bjerregard (C, DEN)
T28 (-4): Justin Rose (C, ENG), Luke Donald (C, ENG), Pablo Larrazabal (S, ESP)
T53 (-3): Alex Noren (C, SWE), Lee Westwood (C, ENG), Matthew Fitzpatrick (C, ENG)
T79 (-2): Rory McIlroy (C, NIR), Eddie Pepperell (C, ENG), Matt Wallace (C, ENG), Ernie Els (C, RSA)
T104 (-1): Jon Rahm (C, ESP), Haotong Li (C, CHN), Wade Ormsby (C, AUS)
T122 (E): Bernd Wiesberger (C, AUT), Danny Willett (C, ENG), Graeme McDowell (C, NIR)
T140 (+1): Shane Lowry (C, IRL), Thomas Bjorn (C, DEN)
T156 (+3): Michael Campbell (K, RSA), Justin Harding (C, RSA)
168 (+5): Erik van Rooyen (C, RSA)

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