The Englishman hit the ground running as he recovered from Europe’s Ryder Cup defeat in Wisconsin last week with an opening eight under par round of 64 to join Spaniard Adri Arnaus, Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium and China’s Li Haotong at the top of the leaderboard.
This year marks the 20th Anniversary of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship – which Hatton won in 2016 and 2017 – and the six-time European Tour winner is teeing it up alongside his father Jeff in the unique event that sees professionals and amateurs playing across three iconic links courses at Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and the Old Course St Andrews.
Arnaus and Colsaerts were both playing the Old Course, while Li found form in spectacular style with a bogey free round at Kingsbarns Golf Links.
Ryder Cupper Colsaerts has two top tens at this event and shot his lowest ever score at the Old Course having played just 18 holes of golf since the BMW PGA Championship.
Local favourite Ewen Ferguson, Northern Ireland’s Michael Hoey and Frenchman Romain Langasque are one shot off the lead at seven under, one shot clear of Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, Thai Jazz Janewattananond and Jeff Winther of Denmark
Player Quotes
Tyrrell Hatton: “It’s always nice to start pretty good around this golf course. You go to the other ones and feel like you’ve got slightly more of a chance than here so we’ll see what the week brings.
“I didn’t actually realise (he had shot 29 on the back nine). Obviously, we needed a big back nine and very happy with the putter worked well and hopefully that continues. You’re always trying to move forward and try to make more birdies and thankfully managed to do that after we last spoke to you and obviously very happy with today’s work.
“He hasn’t looked at my swing or anything (hid dad and coach, Jeff). I think he’s a bit too excited to play these courses for the first time. I imagine he’s probably quite tired. He normally plays like once every six weeks and he did 18 holes on Tuesday and he did nine holes yesterday and obviously another 18 today.”
Nicolas Colsaerts: “It’s my lowest one at St Andrews, and I’ve come here with no game whatsoever. I haven’t played golf in two weeks. I did a bit of work last week for Ryder Cup. Haven’t played 18 holes in two weeks. Once you start to play well at the Home of Golf, it’s a pretty nice feeling when you hit the shots and making two eagles on the two par 5s and birdie 18, you basically tick every box on the Old Course, which is nice.
“It’s funny because I went to a couple Ryder Cups not playing, and the week after, I played decent without any form. So, when you see the boys going there and playing what’s possibly the best golf tournament on earth, yeah it brings back memories and reminds you of who you once were and it’s somehow motivating.
“It’s a little bit luck of the draw. You don’t want to play in windy conditions and a couple of places you might fancy a bit more. But it’s an amazing week and I don’t know how many of these I’ve played but I’m lucky enough to play with Tom Chaplin (singer), a lovely guy. We played together a couple years ago. It’s nice to be out in company of really, really cool people that you wouldn’t get to meet on a daily basis. I think that’s what stands out this week.”
Adri Arnaus: “Pleased with this start. First part of the round, I enjoyed it so much. Great company and got to know a couple of cool guys, the amateurs, and looking forward to tomorrow and the next few days.
“Every year that goes by I learn new things. As an amateur I did play a little bit around here but it’s not my native environment. But still enjoy coming to where golf started and at the end of the day it’s a cool part of golf.
“It’s just like a laid back week. You get to chat and get to know some characters that you can see sometimes on TV, sometimes somewhere else. But it’s a pleasure to play with them and have a round of golf together.”
Ewen Ferguson: “I had a great day. Played really well and managed to deal with the elements and the course really well today, and deal with the kind of added pressure of having everyone supporting you and being in your home country.
“It adds a bit of pressure because you don’t want to let anyone down, but at the same time it inspires to you play well. I kept my intensity levels really high today even on just these four- or five-footers.
Day One Scores
64 A ARNAUS (ESP), T HATTON (ENG), H LI (CHN), N COLSAERTS (BEL),
65 E FERGUSON (SCO), R LANGASQUE (FRA), M HOEY (NIR),
66 T FLEETWOOD (ENG), J JANEWATTANANOND (THA), J WINTHER (DEN),
67 P DUNNE (IRL), R RAMSAY (SCO), D WILLETT (ENG), T MERRITT (USA), A OTAEGUI (ESP), J LAGERGREN (SWE), L CANTER (ENG), B HENSON (USA), A LEVY (FRA), Y CHANG (KOR), D GAVINS (ENG), N BERTASIO (ITA),
68 E PEPPERELL (ENG), D LAW (SCO), G MIGLIOZZI (ITA), M PAVON (FRA), J SENIOR (ENG), O FISHER (ENG), J CATLIN (USA), M ANTCLIFF (AUS), A QUIROS (ESP), S SODERBERG (SWE), W BESSELING (NED), T LEWIS (ENG), R CABRERA BELLO (ESP), J LUITEN (NED),
69 P LARRAZ?BAL (ESP), T AIKEN (RSA), M ARMITAGE (ENG), S BROWN (ENG), G GREEN (MAS), B STONE (RSA), S HORSFIELD (ENG), B HORSCHEL (USA), J MURPHY (IRL), M KAYMER (GER), O WILSON (ENG), J HARDING (RSA), J SURI (USA), R BLAND (ENG), S HEND (AUS), H PORTEOUS (RSA), J VEERMAN (USA), R MACINTYRE (SCO),
70 A FLANAGAN (ENG), D BURMESTER (RSA), J SMITH (ENG), A NOREN (SWE), B GRACE (RSA), J CAMPILLO (ESP), M KAWAMURA (JPN), B JONES (ENG), M DAFFUE (RSA), S SHARMA (IND), C PAISLEY (ENG), Z LOMBARD (RSA), J GEARY (NZL), D PAPADATOS (AUS), J STALTER (FRA), L GAGLI (ITA), D LAWSON (AUS), J GUERRIER (FRA), M SOUTHGATE (ENG), D VAN TONDER (RSA), L BJERREGAARD (DEN), R PARATORE (ITA), N H?JGAARD (DEN), L DE JAGER (RSA),
71 M SCHMID (GER), D DRYSDALE (SCO), R MCGOWAN (ENG), M LAMB (ENG), V PEREZ (FRA), S GALLACHER (SCO), J MORRISON (ENG), D FICHARDT (RSA), R ROCK (ENG), M SIEM (GER), S KJELDSEN (DEN), J WALTERS (RSA), A SANDHU (IND), J DONALDSON (WAL), R JACQUELIN (FRA), A CA?IZARES (ESP), M LEE (AUS), G COETZEE (RSA), S LOWRY (IRL), B RANKIN (AUS), S V?LIM?KI (FIN), P WARING (ENG), K BROBERG (SWE), C SYME (SCO), M LORENZO-VERA (FRA), W NIENABER (RSA),
72 R SANTOS (POR), T PIETERS (BEL), J HANSEN (DEN), A CHESTERS (ENG), R ENOCH (WAL), J CALDWELL (NIR), C SHINKWIN (ENG), T DETRY (BEL), B SCHMIDT (ENG), T SMYTH (AUS), L DONALD (ENG), R MCEVOY (ENG), E MOLINARI (ITA), T OLESEN (DEN), M JORDAN (ENG), M KIEFFER (GER), A ROZNER (FRA), M MEISSNER (USA), V DUBUISSON (FRA), J AHLERS (RSA), S CROCKER (USA), T LAWRENCE (RSA),
73 T LEE (KOR), D HORSEY (ENG), B MACPHERSON (AUS), G FORREST (SCO), N SCHIETEKAT (RSA), A SULLIVAN (ENG), G STORM (ENG), N ELVIRA (ESP), C HILL (SCO), J KRUYSWIJK (RSA), S TARRIO (ESP), M WARREN (SCO),
74 R FISHER (ENG), A MERONK (POL), J LONG (ENG), A BJ?RK (SWE), J SCRIVENER (AUS), J BALLESTEROS (ESP), B HEBERT (FRA), C WOOD (ENG), A PAVAN (ITA), J DYER (ENG),
75 R FOX (NZL), M KINHULT (SWE), K SAMOOJA (FIN), P HARRINGTON (IRL), M ROHWER (RSA), T PULKKANEN (FIN), C SHARVIN (NIR),
76 D HOWELL (ENG), T BJ?RN (DEN), D IEREMIA (NZL),
77 R ROUSSEL (FRA), V NORRMAN (SWE), S YONGCHAROENCHAI (THA), F LAPORTA (ITA), S JAMIESON (SCO),
78 P HANSON (SWE), A DA SILVA (BRA), T THIMBA JNR (RSA), R CHRYSTIE (ENG),
79 R CONRADIE (RSA),
