‘Down Under’ golfer Jack Buchanan and Scot Michael Stewart celebrated the 25th anniversary hosting by grabbing a share of the lead on day one of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Buchanan was competing on the Old Course at St. Andrews for a first time in his career and joined Stewart who was competing at Carnoustie, each signing for seven-under par 65s in the bright but increasingly windy conditions.
Buchanan was born April 1st, 2002 in Scotland but with his family moving to Adelaide in Australia when he was aged 11. He became a member of the famed Glenelg club ahead of turning professional in 2023.
The Australian DP World Tour player has admittedly struggled with results this season but had no problems on Thursday, kick-starting his round with four birdies in his opening six holes to make the turn in 32.
Three further birdies at the tenth, 13th and 16th holes saw the current World No. 788th ranked golfer join Stewart at the top of the leaderboard, signing for a matching bogey-free 65.
“Pretty solid start to the week,” he said after his round.
“Obviously this is probably one of the easier courses out of the three, but yeah, good start.
“My approach play was really good. I think I basically hit 18 greens. Took a littwle bit of stress off myself and yeah made a few birdies.”
Buchanan brilliantly capped his early pro career winning twice within three events during the 2024 Australian/New Zealand Tour though he comes into this week disappointingly missing the cut in 12 of his 17 rookie DP World Tour season events, including back-to-back missed cuts at the Omega European Masters and FedEx Open de France, but says he feels the learning experience has helped things click.
“It’s been a bit of a struggle this year,” he said “Kind of missed a few cuts by one. I definitely feel like I’m becoming a better player before it starts to click a little bit.
“Last week I felt like my iron play was good and struggled off the tee but was in play off the tee today. So, I was able to take advantage of that.”
The Aussie and Scot sit one shot ahead of South African pair Casey Jarvis and MJ Dauffe, with a group of seven players behind them on five-under-par.
Stewart was runner up in the three-round Duddingston Classic which finished on Wednesday. That meant he had to forgo a practice round ahead of making his debut in the DP World Tour’s Back 9 event which is played across three different links courses.
The 36-year-old birdied the third hole at Carnoustie then picked up six shots in a five-hole stretch after the turn, which began with an eagle on the 12th hole. The Scot signed for a bogey-free seven under par round of 65.
“I played nice all day to be honest. Lots of fairways, lots of greens and then on the back, the putter got hot. It was nice,” said Stewart.
“It’s easy to get yourself up for this event, isn’t it. It was fine (preparation). I played Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, straight here and courses I know well anyway. Played here a lot in the past and just delighted to be part of the event.
“Today the putter was really good again which was nice. It’s not been behaving as well as it usually has the last sort of couple of events. Again, the long game was good today and it was nice to see some putts go in on the back nine. The front nine is sort of tricky into that wind and you’re playing the majority of the holes into the wind. You turn and you get to 10, sort of coming in, you know there’s going to be a lot more chances. And I just managed to put myself in good spots and managed to hole some putts.
“It’s great. I feel home at links golf. I grew up on a links course. The conditions are a little bit better here than the last few years, which has been nice. I don’t mind the wind. As long as the rain stays away, we’re good to go”.
Last week’s FedEx Open de France champ Matt Fitzpatrick is the best placed of the eight major champions in the $US 5m event and heads into Friday’s second round at Kingsbarns on four under, alongside a group of 11 other players that includes Ryder Cup team-mate Sepp Straka.
