Conor Purcell gave his DP World Tour card retention hopes a timely boost as he fired an opening round of 65 at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
He lies in a share of seventh place on seven-under-par alongside Tom McKibbin with the pair just two shots back of Ryan Brehm, Darius Van Driel and links specialist Matthew Jordan.
Played at the Old Course at St Andrews, Kingsbarns and Carnoustie, Purcell took to Kingsbarns for his opening round and started well with birdies at the 11th and 16th.
He turned on the style on his way to the clubhouse with a birdie at the first and a superb eagle on the par-5 3rd which really ignited his charge. He kept the foot down over the closing stretch with birdies on the 6th and 9th to complete a morale boosting bogey free round.
McKibbin meanwhile, played the Old Course first and started brilliantly with four birdies in his first seven holes including three in a row from the fifth.
The 22-year-old reeled off another hat trick of birdies from the tenth and added an eight birdie of the day on the fourteenth. His only bogey came on the road hole 17th.
Pádraig Harrington returned to the site of his 2007 Open Championship victory and carded a two-under 70 at Carnoustie to sit seven shots off the pace but with the supposedly easier Old Course and Kingsbarns to come.
Also in contention is two-time major winner Dustin Johnson who took advantage of some favourable conditions around Carnoustie with a superb eight-under 64 to sit one off the pace.
“Very pleased. We went out early. Not much wind. We got the first eight or nine holes, nice weather. Yeah, hit a lot of really nice shots. Holed a couple putts but yeah, played pretty solid. Kept it out of the bunkers, and yeah, it was a nice round,” said Johnson.
Johnson missed the cut the last time the Open Championship was hosted at Carnoustie but feels he had a good relationship with the golf course if not the results.
“I mean, obviously played The Open here. I played the Dunhill a couple times. Generally haven’t played that well around here, so it’s nice to get a good score in.”
