{"id":1253992,"date":"2024-10-03T19:46:53","date_gmt":"2024-10-03T19:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/?p=1253992"},"modified":"2024-10-03T19:46:53","modified_gmt":"2024-10-03T19:46:53","slug":"alfred-dunhill-links-championship-2024-r1-fichardt-opens-with-brilliant-61","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/alfred-dunhill-links-championship-2024-r1-fichardt-opens-with-brilliant-61\/","title":{"rendered":"Fichardt opens with brilliant 61"},"content":{"rendered":"

Darren Fichardt, playing at Kingsbarns Golf Links, fired two eagles<\/a><\/strong>, nine birdies and two bogeys to close with an 11-under 61 and take the opening lead at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. The South African tied his lowest DP World Tour round.<\/p>\n

“That was good. That was sweet. I started with a birdie on my first hole, the tenth hole, and then I hit a really poor three-putt the next hole,” said Fichardt.<\/p>\n

“I was like ‘oh my goodness, it’s going to be a grind today’, and then made like a 100-foot putt for eagle on the next hole, and then the train just kept on going.<\/p>\n

“It was really, really nice for everything just to fall like that.”<\/p>\n

“I started thinking to myself, ‘is this a par 73 or 72?’. Because I know Gracey (Branden Grace) shot 60 the one year.<\/p>\n

“I was trying to figure out what the par was, but I just kept on going and trying to do what I was doing. Yeah, that would have been nice, a little 59 on this track.”<\/p>\n