Alfred Dunhill Links Championship: Matt Wallace and Marcus Fraser set pace
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Wallace has won four times on the European Tour, including the Made in Denmark event last month
Dunhill Links Championship first-round leaderboard |
|---|
-4 M Wallace (Eng), M Fraser (Aus); -3 P Khongwatmai (Tha), J Choi (Kor), M Schwab (Aut), P McGinley (Ire), P Harrington (Ire) |
Selected others: -2 B Koepka (US), T Hatton (Eng); -1 T Fleetwood (Eng); Level MA Jiminez (Spa), E Els (SA); +1 T Finau (US); +3 L Donald (Eng) |
England's Matt Wallace is tied for the lead with Australian Marcus Fraser after the first round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Wallace, 28, carded a four-under par 68 at St Andrews, while 40-year-old Fraser recorded the same score at Carnoustie.
The opening day of the event, which is played across three Scottish courses, was overshadowed by strong winds.
Ryder Cup players Brooks Koepka and defending champion Tyrrell Hatton are two shots back.
A woman was injured when she was hit by a wayward shot from Hatton, who was playing at Kingsbarns and is chasing his third consecutive win in the pro-am tournament.
The spectator was seen bleeding from a head wound after the incident on the 15th hole.
Former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley and fellow Irishman Padraig Harrington, who is favourite to be named in the role for 2020, both shot 69 at Kingsbarns to lie a shot off Fraser and Wallace alongside Phachara Khongwatmai, Jinho Choi and Matthias Schwab.
On a day when only 24 players in the 168-strong field broke par, Hatton's Hatton's Ryder Cup team-mate Tommy Fleetwood recovered from a poor start to play his last eight holes at Kingsbarns in four under par to record an opening 71 but Tony Finau, who beat Fleetwood in the singles in the Ryder Cup on Sunday, carded a 73 at the same venue for a one-over tally.
Fraser, who carded five birdies and one bogey, told Sky Sports afterwards: "It's brutal out there. It's probably the toughest wind I've played this course in today. It was nice to play pretty steady and hole a few putts.
"Downwind was just as hard as into the wind, it was really tricky to control it and try to get the right distances. We were out by probably 20-30 yards some times but it just can't be helped. You get a firm bounce and it just takes off.
"And the cross breezes as well down those last two holes, the ball just drops out of the air and doesn't fly. It's hard to gauge but I felt like I did a really good job of it today."