The opening day of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship 2026 produced plenty of low scoring across Scotland’s famous links venues, with Michael Stewart (-7) of Scotland and Jack Buchanan (-7) of Australia emerging as the early pace-setters.

Stewart made the most of familiar conditions to post a flawless seven-under-par round, while Buchanan matched that effort to ensure the lead remained shared at the close of play. With three rounds still to come, both players have given themselves an excellent platform in one of the DP World Tour’s most unique events.

South Africa enjoyed a particularly strong start, with Casey Jarvis (-6) and MJ Daffue (-6) sitting just one shot off the lead in a tie for third. The duo continued the country’s impressive run on the DP World Tour and remain firmly in the hunt.

Another group of seven players sits in fifth at -5. That group includes South Africans Hennie du Plessis (-5), Christiaan Burke (-5), Dean Burmester (-5), Brandon Stone (-5) and Daniel van Tonder (-5). They are joined by Sweden’s Mikael Lindberg (-5) and Harry Townsend (-5), highlighting the international flavour at the top of the leaderboard.

Just behind them, a large pack at -4 includes England’s Matt Fitzpatrick (-4) and Sam Bairstow (-4), Scotland’s Calum Hill (-4), Sweden’s Joakim Lagergren (-4), Jens Dantorp (-4) and Björn Hellgren (-4), Austria’s Jasper Straka (-4), Norway’s Andreas Halvorsen (-4), American Ryan Palmer (-4), Spain’s Ivan Cantero Gutierrez (-4) and Jose Luis Ballester (-4), as well as Australia’s Wade Ormsby (-4).