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 at 7 under.
“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 second 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 grew up on links courses so I feel at home here.”
Stewart and Buchanan will look to hold off a crowded leaderboard that includes last week’s Open de France winner Matt Fitzpatrick and five-time major winner Brooks Koepka, who both sit inside the top 10.
The 36-year-old Stewart, who eagled the par-5 12th hole and then proceeded to birdie the next four holes, won on the Tartan Pro Tour earlier this year and also plays on the European Challenge 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 few more chances,” he said of the momentum that began to build at the turn.
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.
