First round of Alfred Dunhill Links Championship: Highlights
The opening round of the latest European Tour event, the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, kicked off simultaneously on three adjacent courses namely, the Carnoustie, The Kingsbarns and the St. Andrews. Four players are now sharing a joint lead at the end
of the first round and players will switch over to other courses for the rest of the championship, playing all three in the process.
Former Open champion, Louis Oosthuizen, Austrian Markus Brier, Spain’s Rafael Cabrera-Bello and Northern Irishman, Michael Hoey, pulled in an impressive six-under, 66, on the first day to grab a share of the lead, clearing the rest of the field by one shot.
A group of six players are in contention for second spot with their respective scores of five-under, 67. The group includes Jaco Van Zyl of South Africa, Northern Irishman, Graeme McDowell, Scotsman, Mark Warren and James Byrne, Frenchman, Gregory Havret
and Englishman, James Morrison, all of whom played the Carnoustie with Warren being the only exception who played the St. Andrews.
Oosthuizen, who has been struggling in the current season, pulled in a stellar performance and is now hoping to break his long dry spell. He won the Open in 2010 and later suffered a ligament injury which kept him off the field for quite a while.
Oosthuizen lamented his absence in the event last year and said, “I suffered the injury three weeks before the event last year and had no chance getting ready for it. It was a big shock for my brother because he was supposed to play, so I promised I would
take him this year. There's nothing better than holding The Claret Jug at St Andrews. Hopefully at the end of the week it's just a different trophy.”
McDowell is still another major winner from last year who is trying to break the winless taboo as the calendar is now gradually rolling towards the end. He won the event at Wentworth and forged his way up the summit of the coveted US Open last year at Pebbles
Beach. He went over to pull in blistering rounds at the Ryder Cup to guide the European team to the victory stand. He has not won a single title this year and has now dropped to Number 15 from a once high of Number Five on the Official World Golf Rankings
(OWGR).
McDowell said, “At the US PGA Championship things came to a head. At one point in August I really wasn't looking forward to a busy schedule at the end of the season.”
Two shots behind the leaders, is another strong group of 11 players, who have all the capabilities to rattle the leaderboard on the second day. Some of the players among the 11 are Colin Montgomerie, World Number Two, Lee Westwood, defending champion, Martin
Kaymer and Padraig Harrington.
World Number One, Luke Donald, who had almost perfected the art of avoiding bogeys and had been bogey free for the last 449 holes, fell for one at par- four, 7th, and finished for a disappointing three-under, 69, for a joint 22nd.
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