Rookies Jimmy Mullen and Paul Dunne charged into a share of the lead on a remarkable first day of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
The Englishman and Ireland-born Dunne were both playing in their first professional tournaments after helping Great Britain and Ireland win the Walker Cup last month and a pair of 64s at Kingsbarns took them to the top of the leaderboard alongside Swede Kris Broberg who posted the same score at St Andrews.
Dunne has had a particularly stellar year and held a share of the lead going into the final round of The Open at St Andrews while Mullen became just the fourth man in history to win all four of his matches in a Walker Cup.
Paul Dunne steps into the pro ranks in dramatic manner posting an eight under par 64 to share the lead on day one of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. Picture: Thos Caffrey | Golffile
The pair have also both successfully navigated the first stage of The European Tour Qualifying School but a win this week would surely top all of their great achievements so far in 2015.
Mullen sits at 1695th in the World Rankings while Dunne is World Number 942 but the former insists he is not approaching his game any differently now he is in the paid ranks.
“What I did as an amateur worked, so I didn’t see any reason to change it,” he said.
“I made the cut in The Open, two, three years ago now, and I knew I was better than that. I knew I could make the cut then two, three years ago.
“I just stuck to what me and (caddie) Alex (Howie) and Paul (Mitchell), my coach, who is up for a practice day, stuck to our game plan and our routine, and it worked all right today.
“I’ll try and do it again the next hopefully three days.”
Mullen made a birdie on the 10th and followed that with further gains on the 11th, 13th and 16th. He gave a shot back on the next but bounced back with birdies on the 18th, first and third.
The Englishman then holed his second shot on the par four sixth to get to eight under but dropped a shot on the next before a birdie on the ninth took him to the top of the pile.
Irishman Dunne added some gloss to his remarkable day as he sank a five iron from 205 yards to record a hole-in-one on the 15th to go with eight birdies and two bogeys.
“I kind of needed it,” he said. “I got off to a bit of a ropey start. I was hitting a lot of poor full shots.
“My putter was kind of saving me, to be level par playing 15 which was my sixth, and it was nice to get a hole-in-one. It was exactly as I pictured it.
“I tried to start it at the left edge of green and let the wind drift it and I thought I hit it close and when I saw it drop, it was great. Nice little bonus there.
“I played some good golf from then on in. Happy with my score.
“There are scores out there to be had. You just have to make putts and get dialed in with your distance control and your irons. I played a lot better on the front nine than I did on the back nine, which was my front nine, a lot better striking of my irons.”
Broberg is still searching for his first European Tour win but had back-to-back top tens recently at the Made in Denmark and the D+D REAL Czech Masters and surged to the top of the leaderboard with an unblemished 64.
The 29 year old started his round with three birdies from the tenth and then added another on the 14th to turn in 32. Another gain came on the second and Broberg secured a further hat-trick of birdies from the fourth to get to eight under.
Kingsbarns was offering up the lowest scores of the day and Søren Kjeldsen, Richard Bland and Anthony Wall were all on seven under having begun their campaign there.
Kjeldsen, who was in the first group out, had set the early pace as he turned in 31 and the Dane came back in 34 to sit a shot behind the leaders.
Bland recorded eight birdies and a single bogey in his 65 while Wall’s card was unblemished as he moved into a share of second.
Australian Marcus Fraser was a further shot back having signed for a bogey-free 66 with a large group of players at five under led by 2004 champion Stephen Gallacher.
Two-time Major Champion Martin Kaymer was then in the group at four under having shot the joint-best round of the day at Carnoustie along with Graeme McDowell, Chris Stroud, Thorbjørn Olesen and local favourite Marc Warren.
Defending champion Oliver Wilson had a day to forget as he shot a two over par 74 at St Andrews.
