Robert MacIntyre angry over drone at Dunhill Links; Michael Stewart leads - Golfweek
According to the weather experts – and by experts, we mean a quick search on Google – there’s nothing to be worried about as far as the forecast is concerned for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship over the next couple of days.
It looks like Michael Stewart’s prayers to Mother Nature will go unanswered then. Damn you, woman.
It was a lovely October day on the east coast as this lucrative, celebrity-infused birl around the Old Course, Kingsbarns and Carnoustie got cracking.
Stewart got cracking too and made hay while that big fiery orb up in the sky shone with a delightfully assembled 7-under 65 at Carnoustie, which gave the 36-year-old a share of the early lead with Jack Buchanan of Australia.
It was very much a case of no practice makes perfect for Stewart. The former Scottish Amateur champion received a late invitation to the pro-am contest but was already committed to playing in Paul Lawrie’s Tartan Pro Tour event at Duddingston, which ran from Monday to Wednesday.
The lack of a pre-championship reconnaissance mission around Carnoustie was not an issue for Stewart, though.
Having finished second down in Edinburgh, he nipped up the road for a bit of supper before drawing on his past experiences of the links and plotting a successful path through its various perils and pitfalls.
It was a fine shift at the office from a player sitting 979th on the world ranking and featured a rousing burst which could’ve been accompanied by the 1812 Overture. Stewart picked up an eagle on the 12th before reeling off four birdies in a row from the 13th to surge to the top of the standings.
Having picked up a cheque for around £2,300 the other night, Stewart is now competing for a vast chunk of a $5 million prize pot.
“I couldn't really have asked today to go any better,” said the former Walker Cup player, who is on course to earn promotion back to the second-tier HotelPlanner Tour through the Tartan Pro Tour order of merit. “I'm usually rattling around the bunkers at this place. It’s my best round at Carnoustie by a long way. I came straight here from Duddingston but, look, I’ve played here loads of times in the past. These courses don’t change. And it’s easy to get yourself up for an event like this, isn't it?”
Stewart certainly did that. His back-nine burst, meanwhile, was right out of the top drawer.
“We were very fortunate with the wind direction that we got,” noted Stewart, who played in The Open in 2023 and revelled being back on a big stage. “The back nine tends to show its teeth around this place but the front nine was the nine that was showing its teeth today. On the back nine, if you were hitting good shots, you were going to have a lot of chances. I was fortunate to hit some good shots and then convert my chances.”
With nothing to lose and everything to gain, Stewart is determined to make the most of this golden opportunity.
“It's not like I’m putting pressure on myself to have a big finish because there's no pressure on me this week,” he added. “I'm not a guy who is trying to keep my tour card or anything. It's effectively a free hit for me and it's great.”
Buchanan’s tidy, bogey-free 65 arrived at Kingsbarns as he joined Stewart at the summit. The 24-year-old tour rookie is languishing down in 167th spot on the Race to Dubai rankings but the more laid-back Pro-Am format provided something of a breath of fresh air.
“It’s been a struggle this year,” he said. “But you don't get to play much better golf than this and it's a nice and relaxed feel.”
Things were far from relaxed, though, for the defending champion Robert MacIntyre. The Scot turned the air as blue as the sky over Carnoustie as one of those pesky TV camera drones got him hot and bothered.
His playing partner, Tyrrell Hatton, also got himself in a cursing fury and was caught thrashing his club so wildly in a bunker, he almost dug up some ancient Angus artefacts.
Both Hatton and MacIntyre were spoken to by tournament officials. Hatton, who has won the Dunhill Links three times, sagged to a 74 while MacIntyre had to settle for a 1-under 71.
“They don't need to be so close,” grumbled MacIntyre of those buzzing drones. “It’s a bit frustrating and it drives me insane. It's like a revving of a car right where you're trying to hit.”
On an eventful Dunhill day, it was MacIntyre’s compatriot, Stewart, who certainly got motoring.
