Report by Anand Datla
October 02, 2014: Oliver Wilson made a strong beginning at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, shooting a 64 to take an early lead even as the first round was drawing to a close at the St. Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns courses in Scotland. India’s Shiv Kapur shot a two under 70 to get inside the top 30 at the combined pro-am event. Kapur played his round at the Old Course of St. Andrews, one of the three sites for this week’s event. Rory McIlroy had a disappointing day, making 73 at Carnoustie to lie T98 after the first round.
Jeev Milkha Singh was three over through 15 holes of Carnoustie and already in danger of missing the cut this weekend. Starting at the 10th hole, Singh was two under through the first five holes, but four straight bogeys from there shunted him down the leaderboard, slipping him to T137.
Kapur also began his round at the 10th, but he was playing on the Old Course at St. Andrews. He was off to a quiet start – the first nine holes involved a bogey six at the 14th hole sandwiched between four pars on either side of it. But soon as he made the turn, Kapur became the potent golfer he can be – gaining four strokes from the first to the fifth holes, including a terrific eagle three at the fifth hole.
Englishman Wilson made a string of birdies, nine of them in all to power himself to the top of the heap with a memorable 64. Raphael Jacquelin was lying in second after he made a 65 at Carnoustie, the same course as Wilson. The Frenchman kept his card simple – scoring three birdies on the front nine, two more on the backward stretch before icing his cake with an eagle three on the 14th hole.
McIlroy seemed a little too flat in his round, perhaps still numbed in joy from his Ryder Cup victory on Sunday. A slew of par efforts were just not going to be enough on a day of low scoring cards. The Northern Irishman managed just a solitary birdie at the par-5 14th hole and a pair of bogeys on either side of his first round outing to settle for a placid 73.
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