Mullen and Wall Co-Lead at Alfred Dunhill Links Championship

Halfway through this year's edition of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship (being played cross-course at Kingsbarn, Carnoustie, and the Old Course at St. Andrews), both Jimmy Mullen and Anthony Wall co-lead with a score of 11-under. Behind them, a log jam of players, including Ryder Cup hero Jamie Donaldson, new professional Paul Dunne (who first made headlines at this year's Open Championship, where he led a portion of it), etc. The cut will be set tomorrow, giving all players a chance to play each course once.

Jimmy Mullen is making his debut as a professional golfer this week, and doing it in good style. The young golfer is from Devon, UK (affiliated with Royal North Devon Golf Club) and had a good amateur career. He played on this year's Walker Cup team, along with Paul Dunne. This week, he shot a 64 at Kingsbarn and a 67 at St. Andrews today. His opening round consisted of seven birdies, an eagle, and just one bogey.

On the other hand, Anthony Wall has been playing on the European Tour for twenty years. He's one once during his professional career, ironically the 2000 Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa (a co-sanctioned event between the European Tour and Sunshine Tour), with several 2nd place finishes over the years. He also has a T12 finish at this year's Open Championship. Wall played the same courses as Mullen and shot a 65/68.

Those who watched the Open Championship this year at St. Andrews will surely remember the then-amateur Paul Dunne. He co-lead the tournament after the first three rounds, becoming the first amateur since 1927 to do so. He also makes his professional debut this week and shot a 64/70 at the same course as Mullen and Wall. He also made a hole-in-one on the 15th at Kingsbarn.

On the pro-am side of things, Rafael-Cabrera Bello (partnered with businessman Dermont Desmond) and Jared Harvey (partnered with businessmanMichael Zamkow) lead with a score of 19-under over Jimmy Mullen and businessman Miguel Duenas.

Finally, here's how our picks are doing,

1) Tommy Fleetwood: T52 at 3-under
2) Graeme McDowell: T13 at 7-under
3) Danny Willett: T66 at 2-under

Good scores from GMac, who hasn't had the best season so far. Remember that the cut will be set tomorrow, with the final round of the tournament being played on Sunday at St. Andrews. Stay tuned for our results post to see who's won.


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

New pro Jimmy Mullen could win his first tournament as a pro this week

Day 4 of the 2015 Open Championship

You may be wondering what happened to our Day 3 coverage of the Open Championship and to be honest there wasn't much happening at the Old Course yesterday. Early in the morning, players finished off their second rounds and just barely. Shortly after, third round play was called off due to bad weather and it was decided that the Open would finish on Monday, with the third round being played today.

As it stands now, the leading score is 12-under and is held by 2010 Open Champion Louis Oosthuizen, Jason Day, and amateur Paul Dunne. They hold a one shot lead over Jordan Spieth, who will be looking to make modern history tomorrow by winning three straight majors.

Today's weather conditions were perfect for low scores, seeing as there was barely any wind and only a small amount of rain. We saw players taking advantage of this and going really low with their scores, such as Marc Leishman and Padraig Harrington who shot a 64 and 65 respectively. Due to this, there was a huge log jam of players at the top of the leaderboard. At one point, players like Padraig Harrington, Danny Willett, Jordan Spieth, and many more either co-led or were within a shot of it.

The biggest story of the day was that of amateur Paul Dunne. The Irishman, who plays college golf for UAB (like Graeme McDowell), made history today, becoming the first amateur since Bobby Jones in 1927 to lead the Open Championship after 54 holes. His accolades are well deserved; he shot a respectable 66 today and over his three rounds has made almost 90% of the GIRS and hit over 80% of fairways. He's also only dropped two shots (two bogeys) over the tournament. If he wins tomorrow, he's be making even more history. Best of luck to him.

Almost as big a story was Dustin Johnson, who shocked us all with relatively poor play today. He shot a 75 today and carded four bogeys and just a single birdie. As he said in his post-round interview, his putter was cold all day and he couldn't capitalize on many birdie opportunities. This again marks another major where we've seen Dustin fall back after leading. He said he'll need a really low round tomorrow to be in contention and win (he's T18 as of now).


Finally, here's how our picks are doing:

1) Dustin Johnson: T18 at 7-under
2) Rickie Fowler: T18 at 7-under

Rickie played well today, shooting a 66. He carded seven birdies and a bogey and like Dustin, will have to put in a bit of work to be in contention tomorrow.

Tomorrow's weather will be more prominent than what we saw today, but not nearly as bad as the first two rounds. A small wind with a chance of rain mid afternoon is what's being forecasted. We'll have to wait and see how it will affect the leaderboard.


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

 Can Louis Oosthuizen win back to back Open Championships at St. Andrews?