Staff WriterIf the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is golf’s answer to a rock concert, then Matthew Jordan kicked things off at St Andrews like a headliner dropping two electric riffs in a row.
The Englishman fired a sizzling 63 at The Old Course to grab a share of the first-round lead alongside Ryan Brehm and Darius van Driel.
Jordan lit up the front nine with a sequence that belongs in a video game: birdie, birdie, eagle, eagle starting at the third hole. For a man who has built his career on steady links play, this was pure pyrotechnics.
“It was brilliant,” said Jordan, still buzzing. “Anytime you get to play this place, especially with no wind, it’s just so enjoyable. And, yeah, it just took off. It was a couple of holes just steady away, and then all of a sudden fireworks.”
The 29-year-old rolled in four more birdies after the turn to seize the outright lead, only to give one back at the notorious 17th. On the 18th he nearly sent the Old Course into rapture—his approach smacked the flagstick and stopped 22 feet short of a closing eagle. He settled for par, a reminder that golf is cruel even when you’re on fire.
Brehm’s flawless Kingsbarns debut
Across the bay at Kingsbarns, world No. 1,407 Ryan Brehm proved rankings can lie. The American put together a flawless 63 of his own—an eagle and seven birdies, no mistakes, and a grin to match.
“There’s really nothing not to be pleased about,” said Brehm. “Just an amazing place. This is my first time over here, and I was pretty much in awe on every fairway, and I hit a lot of fairways, which is kind of rare for me. It was a lot of fun.”
Brehm admitted the course seemed to bend in his favour. “I hit a lot of fairways. The one time I caught a bunker, it wasn’t even a bad swing. I had a lot of comfortable numbers.
So my mis-hits were pin-high. And you know, I just left it in the correct spots so that I don’t have to put a whole lot of stress on my short game.”
Van Driel’s birdie blitz
Joining the party, Dutchman Darius van Driel stitched together seven birdies in a row—from the 15th to the 3rd—in a round that looked more like pinball than golf. Add in gains at the 13th and 9th, and he too signed for nine-under at Kingsbarns.
Big names lurk at Carnoustie
Lurking one shot back on eight under are two-time major champion Dustin Johnson, Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen, and Jeff Winther.
The trio survived Carnoustie—traditionally the crankiest of the three venues—thanks to calm conditions and patient golf. Johnson, as ever, looked unbothered, as if plotting his week between yawns.
Team leaderboard: Senior and Desmond out front
Meanwhile, in the team competition, Jack Senior and Dery Desmond set the early pace at 17 under par, three clear of the field after their opening day at The Old Course.
Jordan’s moment of history?
For Jordan, the Dunhill Links has already offered something special: his first back-to-back eagles in a tournament.
“It’s one of the first times,” he said, grinning. “Yeah, it certainly improves the scoring. Yeah, space of half an hour, all of a sudden you’re dramatically doing a lot better.”
But Jordan knows one dazzling round doesn’t win a title. “There’s always points to figure out. There’s always something to play for.
So no, you play well, everything gets taken care of. So, of course, this one, there’s stuff like that involved.”
As the Dunhill Links heads into round two, the leaderboard already looks like a mix of the expected, the surprising, and the absurd—just the way links golf likes it. One thing’s certain: if the fireworks continue, the Old Course might need to install a fire marshal before Sunday.
