Pádraig Harrington and Shane Lowry were left to rue sloppy finishes while Rory McIlroy was “slow out of the blocks” in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Veteran Harrington (53) was seven-under with three holes to go at Carnoustie before he three-putted the seventh from long range and dropped another shot after bunkering his tee-shot at the eighth en route to a five-under 67.
He was tied for 27th, six strokes behind South African Darren Fichardt who made two eagles and nine birdies in a course record-equalling 11-under 61 at Kingsbarns to lead by a shot from Australian Cameron John.
Fichardt had a chance to break the 60 barrier when he covered his first 16 holes in 11 under thanks to two eagles and eight birdies, but three-putted the eighth — his 17th — before making a birdie on the ninth.
Lowry opened with four birdies on Carnoustie’s back nine but, after bouncing back from bogeys at the 17th and 18th with three birdies in a row from the first, he bogeyed the par-five sixth and had to work hard for pars at the last three holes in ideal conditions.
The Offaly man was tied for 49th on four-under but McIlroy was not panicking after a three-under 69 at the Angus links left him tied for 73rd.
“It was okay,” said the world No 3, who made two birdies and a bogey in his first 12 holes before picking up shots at the fourth and eighth.
“A bit slow to get out of the blocks. I actually played very nice on our front nine, which is the back nine. Missed a lot of opportunities, and then maybe a little scrappier on the back.
“Overall, it was a perfect day to play Carnoustie. I probably didn’t quite take advantage of the conditions the way that I wanted to or should have but a solid round and something to try to build upon tomorrow at Kingsbarns.”
Tom McKibbin was 96th after a two-under 70 on the Old Course at St Andrews while Alex Maguire’s 74 at Carnoustie left him 156th on two-over.
Meanwhile, Paul Dunne dropped four shots in his last five holes to find himself seven shots behind halfway leaders Benjamin Follet-Smith and Maxence Giboudot in the D+D REAL Czech Challenge.
Playing just his fifth event this year to prepare for Q-School later this month, the Greystones man (31) showed signs of a return to form when he opened with a seven-under 63 at Royal Beroun. But after going out in five-under 31, he dropped four shots coming home in a 69 that left him tied for 24th on eight-under as his former Walker Cup team-mate Cormac Sharvin shot 66 to lead the Irish challenge on nine-under.
Meanwhile, Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley confessed the course suffered “a lot of damage” when Hurricane Helene struck the southern United States last week but confirmed the 2025 Masters will go ahead as scheduled.
Ridley said: “As far as the golf course, it really was affected just as the rest of the community was… there was a lot of damage and we have a lot of people working hard to get us back up and running.”
Pledging $5 million to the Hurricane Helene Community Crisis Fund, he added: “The Masters will be held, it will be on the dates it’s scheduled to be held.”
In Spain, newly minted professionals Sara Byrne and Annabel Wilson opened with five under 67s to share the lead in the Iberdrola Calatayud Ladies Open on the LET’s second-tier Access Series.