Tom McKibbon was all smiles in teaming with fellow Northern Ireland-born legendary jockey J P McCoy and with the young LIV Golf star riding his way on the back of eight birdies for a super seven-under 65 over the famed Old Course at St. Andrews on the opening day of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship
McKibbin, 22 capped his round with a hat-trick of birdies from fifth to seventh holes and then a second run of three birdies in succession from the 10th hole to 12th holes, and then an eighth birdie and end the opening day of the $5m championship sharing seventh place.
Three players, including McKibbin’s opening round playing partner Matthew Jordan, lead the field over the three host courses at nine-under.
Tom McKibbon was all smiles in teaming with fellow Northern Ireland-born legendary jockey J P McCoy and with the young LIV Golf star riding his way on the back of eight birdies for a super seven-under 65 over the famed Old Course at St. Andrews on the opening day of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
TOM McKIBBON @tommckibbin8 @livgolf_league @LegionXIIIgc RIDES BIRDIE HAUL 6⃣5⃣ …
McKibbon teams with legendary jockey AP McCoy round famed Old Course ⛳️ to end day one @dunhilllinks T7th
Read: https://t.co/tV2oeZfLnh
✅ @TOURMISS pic.twitter.com/UQugiTsbvA
— Fatiha (@TOURMISS) October 2, 2025
McKibbin, 22 capped his round with a hat-trick of birdies from fifth to seventh holes and then a second run of three birdies in succession from the 10th hole to 12th holes, and then an eighth birdie and end the opening day of the $5m championship sharing seventh place.
Three players, including McKibbin’s opening round playing partner Matthew Jordan, lead the field over the three host courses at nine-under.
Indeed, Jordan sensationally capped his round with back-to-back eagles at the fifth and sixth holes.
Also tied at the top is the duo of American Ryan Brehm, who signed for a nine-under 63 at Kingsbarns Links as did Dutchman Darius Van Driel also out at Kingsbarns.
Double Major winning Dustin Johnson, and contesting a first Dunhill Links since 2012, was out at Carnoustie to be sharing the lead in signing for an impressive bogey-free 68 that included an eagle and six birdies
“I came over with Wayne (Gretsky) obviously as he is also part of this week, but I just love playing in the Dunhill”, said Johnson.
“The last couple of years it just didn’t fall on a good time to come over schedule-wise, but this year I had some time off and it just worked out. I want to play a bit more, so I might play a few more tournaments out here next year.”
Indeed ‘DJ’ has contested just two Dunhill Links events in 2011 and 2012 while his only other appearance at Carnoustie was teeing-up in the 2018 Open Championship.
The Callaway attached McKibbon is contesting a first DP World Tour event since his T11th finish in the recent BMW PGA Championship at DPWT HQ while this week also will be only his eight World Ranking counting event of 2025 and he advising earlier this week he’s not due again to tee-up on the LIV Tour till next February.
No wonder then McKibbon sounded more than eager to make the most of his appearance this week at the Home of Golf.
“It was a good day with a lot of birdies on my scorecard and it’s my lowest score around the Old Course, so I was delighted”, said McKibbon.
McKibbon got his birdie haul underway holing a super 16-footer at the par-4 second hole hole while his birdie run really got underway two-putting from 23-feet at the par-5 fifth hole, and one of only two par-5s on the historic course, he two-putted for a ‘4’ from 22-feet. It was a tap-in birdie three at the short 10th hole, a great 13-footer for a birdie 2 at the par-3 11th and a sixth birdie of the day at the par-4 12th.
He went to eight-under with a birdie on 14 ahead of his only hiccup being a three-putt at the par-4 ‘Road Hole’ 17th.
There to greet McKibbon was his proud mum Sarah who was in discussion with 60-year-old Piers Morgan, the legendary English broadcaster, journalist, writer, and media personality, and partnering Jordan this week. Morgan was clearly heard praising McKibbon on his great golf over the famed St. Andrews layout.
“It was great being out with AP McCoy as my amateur partner while Matthew and Piers were also super company”, said McKibbin.
“It was just a nice day out on the Old Course as I’ve always found it a little tough each time I’ve played it. Getting off to the great start that I did also took a lot of pressure off my game while it was just so nice to go out and take advantage also of the nice scoring conditions.
“Jordan played exceptionally well while AP and Piers contributed superbly while the whole atmosphere was a lot of fun, and we all had a good day out there”
When quizzed what he thought he did well out there today McKibbon remarked: “I putted quite nicely while my short game was pretty good especially on some of the short par-4 and 5s. I just seemed to hit everything well”.
