There’s still a lot of golf to play but a storybook narrative is beginning to form at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, where native Michael Stewart shares the leads in Scotland in search of his first career win on the DP World Tour.
Stewart’s back nine 30 at Carnoustie propelled him to the top of the leaderboard after Thursday’s opening round.
Playing this week via a tournament invitation, Stewart sits tied with 24-year-old Australian Jack Buchanan who shot a bogey-free, 7-under 65.
“It’s easy to get yourself up for this event,” said Stewart, who will also play at the Old Course at St Andrews and Kingsbarn Golf Links this week.
He finished T-14 in a Tartan Pro Tour event on Wednesday, arriving to play for the first time on the DP World Tour in more than three years without a practice round.
“These courses I know pretty well, we’ve played a lot here in the past,” he said.
“I feel home at links golf. I grew up on a links course,” he added. “I don’t mind the wind. As long as the rain stays away, we’re good to go.
Stewart and Buchanan will look to hold off a crowded leaderboard that includes seven South Africans in the top 10 and last week’s Open de France winner Matt Fitzpatrick, who sits T-12 after carding a 4-under 68 in his first round.
“Links golf just unlocks a different part of my brain — it’s something that’s not familiar to me growing up but I don’t know, I love the trueness of links,” said M.J. Daffue, one of the South Africans in contention this week.
Daffue sits a shot back, T-3 with fellow countryman Casey Jarvis.
“When you hit good golf shots and you do the right things, it pays off,” Daffue added. “But when you’re not on top of it, it will beat you.”
The 36-year-old Stewart, who eagled the par-5 12th hole and then proceeded to birdie the next four holes, has won twice on the Tartan Pro Tour this year and also plays on the HotelPlanner Tour.
“You play a majority of the front nine holes into the wind; and when you turn at 10, you know there are going to be a lot more chances,” he said of the momentum that began to build at the turn. “It was nice to put myself in some good spots and then go and hole some putts.”
He made the cut at Royal Liverpool in 2023, where finished T-52 at the Open.
Stewart was playing Thursday’s pro-am with winemaker Hannah Heerema, daughter of Scottish singer Fiona Kennedy.
