Golf: Northern Ireland's Michael Hoey eagled the last at St Andrews to move into a share of the lead on six under after his opening round of the Dunhill Links Championship, one ahead of fellow Ulsterman Graeme McDowell.
McDowell’s five-under-par 67 at Kingsbarns had left him as the leading Irish contender earlier this afternoon, one adrift of Spaniard Rafael Cabrero-Bello and South African Louis Oosthuizen.
Markus Brier and Hoey then also moved ahead of the former US Open champion having beaten the next best scores at St Andrews by two. One of those to finish on four under was Shane Lowry, who made a remarkable recovery after making the turn on two over.
After starting on the 10th, Lowry mixed two birdies with four bogeys, but picked up six shots on the way to recover with aplomb. Pádraig Harrington also ended his day on four under after a 68 at Kingsbarns.
Current US Open champion Rory McIlroy did something similar to Lowry having played the back nine in three over, thanks largely to a triple bogey at the 13th. He managed five birdies after the turn, however, to move alongside Peter Lawrie on two under, one ahead of Paul Cutler.
Gareth Maybin (Carnoustie), Darren Clarke and Damien McGrane (both Kingsbarns) all finised on one over, three ahead of Paul McGinley (Carnoustie).
McDowell enjoyed a brilliant season in 2010, winning the US Open at Pebble Beach and then securing the winning point in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor, but has struggled to reproduce that form since.
And the 32-year-old revealed that he had turned to former coach Clive Tucker in an attempt to rediscover his best golf.
“At the US PGA Championship things came to a head,” McDowell said. “Myself and my caddie had to have a bit of a heart-to-heart as to what we were doing and what we needed to change.
“It was a bit of soul-searching and Clive was the answer, a guy that understands my game very well and was probably a lot to answer for why I played well in 2010. I’m not breaking my ties with Pete (Cowen), I still want him to coach me but I needed another opinion on things.
“I’ve got more clarity of thought with my game, which excites me. At one point in August I really wasn’t looking forward to a busy schedule at the end of the season.”
A bright start for young Englishman Tom Lewis means he could follow in the footsteps of McIlroy by securing his card for next season this weekend. Lewis shot to fame at the Open Championship at Royal St George's this summer, shooting a 65 - the lowest round by an amateur in championship history - in the opening round.
He then helped Great Britain and Ireland win the Walker Cup earlier this month in Aberdeen before turning professional, finishing joint 10th on his debut in the paid ranks in Austria last week.
The 20-year-old has six more events this season to earn around €220,000 he will need to secure full playing rights in 2012, but knows it is certainly possible after McIlroy finished third here in 2007 to do just that.
A top-three finish on Sunday would be enough for Lewis.
Cabrera-Bello, who won the Austrian Open two years ago with a stunning final round of 60, went out in 31 with three birdies and an eagle, and though he carded three birdies on the way in he also shot two bogeys.
World number one Luke Donald and compatriot Lee Westwood were three and four under respectively after their rounds at Kingsbarns.
Collated first round scores in the Dunhill Links
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Irish in bold, par 72)
St Andrews Old Course
66Markus Brier (Aut), Michael Hoey
68Steve Webster, Romain Wattel (Fra), Shane Lowry,Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe)
69David Drysdale, Daniel Gaunt (Aus), James Kingston (Rsa), Tommy Fleetwood, Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Tano Goya (Arg)
70Michael Campbell (Nzl), Peter Lawrie
71Marcel Siem (Ger), Mathias Gronberg (Swe), Steven O'Hara, Oliver Fisher, Marcus Both (Aus), Paul Lawrie, Oskar Henningsson (Swe), Bradley Dredge, Patrick Reed (USA), Henrik Stenson (Swe)
72Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Richie Ramsay, Alan McLean, Joost Luiten (Ned), Todd Hamilton (USA), Seve Benson, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Jbe Kruger (Rsa), Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Ross McGowan
73Christian Cevaer (Fra), Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Richard McEvoy, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), Scott Jamieson, Brett Rumford (Aus), Johnson Wagner (USA), Neil Schietekat (Rsa)
74Richard Bland, Alvaro Velasco (Spa), Robert Rock, Stephen Gallacher, David Dixon, Robert Dinwiddie, Keith Horne (Rsa)
75Gary Orr, Richard Finch, Phillip Price, Kieran Pratt (Aus), Michael Jonzon (Swe)
76Scott Strange (Aus)
80David Bransdon (Aus)
Carnoustie Course
67Marc Warren
69David Horsey, Jack Senior, Sandy Lyle
70George Murray, Martin Wiegele (Aut), Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel), Andrew Dodt (Aus), David Lynn, Johan Edfors (Swe)
71Felipe Aguilar (Chi), John Daly (USA), Matt Haines, Jamie Donaldson, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa)
72Alex Haindl (Rsa), Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), Joakim Haeggman (Swe), Mark Tullo (Chi), Ross Fisher, Oliver Wilson, Jason Knutzon (USA), Oscar Floren (Swe), Bronson La Cassie (Aus), Peter O'Malley (Aus)
73Anthony Kang (USA), John Parry, David Howell, Gareth Maybin,Andre Stolz (Aus), Nick Dougherty, Danny Willett, Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Barry Lane
74Rhys Davies, Rikard Karlberg (Swe), Pariya Junhasavasdikul (Tha), Michiel Bothma (Rsa), Andy Sullivan, Gary Boyd, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den), Mark Foster, Benjamin Hebert (Fra)
75Steven Brown (Gbr), Peter Whiteford, Robert Coles, Peter Karmis (Rsa)
76Christian Nilsson (Swe), David McKenzie (Aus), Josh Cunliffe (Rsa), Steven Jones (Aus), Paul McGinley,Rohan Blizard (Aus)
77Bernd Wiesberger (Aut), Marcus Fraser (Aus)
79Aaron Townsend (Aus)
Kingsbarns Course
66Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa)
67 Graeme McDowell,James Byrne, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa), Gregory Havret (Fra), James Morrison
68Peter Hanson (Swe), Colin Montgomerie, Martin Kaymer (Ger), Tom Lewis, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita), Padraig Harrington,Lee Westwood
69Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Stephen Dodd, Alexander Noren (Swe), Luke Donald, Simon Dyson
70 Rory McIlroy,Jeppe Huldahl (Den), Thomas Bjorn (Den), Simon Khan
71Matteo Manassero (Ita), Rafael Echenique (Arg), Victor Dubuisson (Fra), Graeme Storm, Dustin Johnson (USA), Anthony Wall, J J Henry (USA), Gareth Paddison (Nzl), Paul Cutler,Niclas Fasth (Swe), Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Pablo Martin (Spa)
72Chris Wood, Retief Goosen (Rsa), Ernie Els (Rsa), George Coetzee (Rsa), Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Matthew Griffin (Aus)
73Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Damien McGrane,Matthew Zions (Aus), Darren Clarke,Mark Brown (Nzl), Tjaart Van Der Walt (Rsa), Robert Karlsson (Swe), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa)
74Scott Hend (Aus), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra)
75Floris De Vries (Ned), Thomas Levet (Fra)
76Anthony Michael (Rsa), Soren Hansen (Den)
77Kenneth Ferrie
