THOMAS BJORN quickly put last week’s disappointment of losing the Vivendi Trophy behind him by grabbing the first round lead at €3.4million Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland where he is closely followed by Ballyclare’s Gareth Maybin.
The Dunhill is a unique week on the European Tour schedule where anyone who’s anyone from the sporting and entertainment worlds gathers at the Home of Golf to compete at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns.
Regular tour players team up with their amateur partners and play all three courses before Sunday’s final day takes place over the Old Course at St Andrews.
Bjorn’s flawless eight-under par 64 at Kingsbarns included a rash of six birdies plus an eagle three at the third to lead by two shots from Maybin and England’s Ross McGowan. The Dane hopes this sort of form will catch the eye of Colin Montgomerie.
“I’ve said all along I’d love to work for Monty if I didn’t make the team,” said the 38-year-old, who along with Paul McGinley are widely tipped to become the Scot’s assistant at next year’s Ryder Cup. “Paul and I are very much aware we are going to have to give it a go (to make the team) because we don’t have many years ahead of us.”
Maybin, who is currently 54th in the Race to Dubai (€ 472,258) in his rookie season, also enjoyed a bogey free round of 66 at Kingsbarns that contained six birdies – three on each nine – while McGowan shot his impressive numbers at St Andrews.
Michael Hoey (67) ended the day one shot behind Maybin and made the biggest impact on the front nine with three birdies in the first four holes before rounding off the nine with an eagle three at the ninth to turn in 31.
His inward half at Kingsbarns was more fraught as a bogey at 11 and a double-bogey at the short 15th were rectified by three further birdies.
It’s a welcome return to form for the Belfast pro, who has only made four cuts in 15 starts since claiming his maiden European Tour win at the Estoril Open win in April.
Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke had matching four-under 68s at Carnoustie, where McIlroy has fond memories of winning the silver medal as an amateur when Pádraig Harrington won his first British Open there in 2007.
The 20-year-old signed off with a birdie three at the 18th to add to his four previous birdies and only dropped shot at the 11th.
McIlroy is the leading Irishman (third) in the Race to Dubai and should he finish runner-up this week he would go top and overtake Martin Kaymer and Paul Casey, who are both out injured.
McIlroy has teamed up with his dad Gerry this week and the pair certainly enjoyed competing together.
“It’s nice to play a competitive tournament with my dad, we had a great laugh all the way round,” said McIlroy, whose dad plays off a tidy two handicap at Holywood Golf Club. “It used to be he’d give me advice but now it’s the other way around, though there was one time during the round he didn’t listen to my advice.”
The highlight of Clarke’s round came with an eagle at the 12th and had his putter behaved then the Dungannon pro would have shot even lower for he left a couple of shots out there after missing from close range.
McGinley was in buoyant mood after he captained his Britain and Ireland team to victory over Bjorn’s Continental Europe in Paris last week.
Yesterday he let his clubs do the talking by shooting a three-under 69 at Carnoustie.
That was one better than Harrington (70) at the same venue after the triple major winner made his competitive return to Europe following a lucrative stint in the States competing in the FedEx Cup series.
Harrington is a two-time winner of the Dunhill and this tournament marks the start of a sustained effort to become Europe’s number one by the end of the season.
There is an 11-strong Irish contingent competing this week and Graeme McDowell was also well-placed after his 69 at Kingsbarns. Gary Murphy and Damien McGrane both shot 71s, two better than Peter Lawrie (73) at the same venue.
Shane Lowry was the sole Irish tour player competing at St Andrews and the Irish Open champion struggled to a two-over 74.
