The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship sends the field around three links in the first three rounds: Kingsbarns, Carnoustie and the Old Course at St Andrews. After round 2, every player has seen two of them, but not the same two, and they have not played alike. The field has averaged -2.41 to par per round at Kingsbarns, against -1.26 at Carnoustie and -1.19 at the Old Course. The leaderboard adds those rounds up as if they were the same test. Casey Jarvis leads the board, but once each round is scored against its own course, Matthew Jordan, Casey Jarvis and MJ Daffue are effectively level.
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How the three courses have played
Field average to par per round, by course and day:
| Course | Round 1 | Round 2 | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kingsbarns | -1.62 | -3.20 | -2.41 |
| Carnoustie | -0.75 | -1.76 | -1.26 |
| Old Course | -0.95 | -1.43 | -1.19 |
Two under par at Carnoustie or the Old Course is roughly 1.2 strokes better golf than two under at Kingsbarns.
The leaderboard, adjusted
Each round below is scored against the players who played the same course on the same day, which takes out both the course and that day's weather. The adjusted figure is strokes better than that field, added up over two rounds.
| Adjusted | Player | Strokes vs field | Leaderboard | Played | Still to play |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matthew Jordan | +7.3 | T2 (-10) | Old Course + Carnoustie | Kingsbarns |
| 2 | Casey Jarvis | +7.1 | 1 (-11) | Carnoustie + Kingsbarns | Old Course |
| 3 | MJ Daffue | +6.9 | T2 (-10) | Kingsbarns + Old Course | Carnoustie |
| 4 | Ivan Cantero | +6.3 | T5 (-9) | Old Course + Carnoustie | Kingsbarns |
| 5 | Rocco Repetto Taylor | +6.1 | T2 (-10) | Carnoustie + Kingsbarns | Old Course |
| 6 | Sam Bairstow | +5.9 | T5 (-9) | Kingsbarns + Old Course | Carnoustie |
| T7 | Ollie Schniederjans | +5.1 | T5 (-9) | Carnoustie + Kingsbarns | Old Course |
| T7 | Niklas Nørgaard | +5.1 | T5 (-9) | Carnoustie + Kingsbarns | Old Course |
| T9 | Sebastian Söderberg | +4.3 | T17 (-7) | Old Course + Carnoustie | Kingsbarns |
| T9 | JC Ritchie | +4.3 | T17 (-7) | Old Course + Carnoustie | Kingsbarns |
| T9 | Adrian Meronk | +4.3 | T17 (-7) | Old Course + Carnoustie | Kingsbarns |
| T9 | Andreas Halvorsen | +4.3 | T17 (-7) | Old Course + Carnoustie | Kingsbarns |
| T9 | Marcus Armitage | +4.3 | T17 (-7) | Old Course + Carnoustie | Kingsbarns |
| T9 | Hennie du Plessis | +4.3 | T17 (-7) | Old Course + Carnoustie | Kingsbarns |
| T15 | Thomas Detry | +4.1 | T9 (-8) | Carnoustie + Kingsbarns | Old Course |
Three draws, three leaderboards
The field plays the rotation in three orders, and everyone in the same order has had the same courses on the same days. The draws have not been equally kind:
| Draw so far | Field to par over those rounds | Head start | Still to play | Best placed (adjusted rank) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carnoustie, then Kingsbarns | -3.95 | +1.2 | Old Course | Casey Jarvis (2), Rocco Repetto Taylor (5) and Ollie Schniederjans (T7) |
| Kingsbarns, then Old Course | -3.05 | +0.3 | Carnoustie | MJ Daffue (3), Sam Bairstow (6) and Brandon Stone (T23) |
| Old Course, then Carnoustie | -2.71 | +0.0 | Kingsbarns | Matthew Jordan (1), Ivan Cantero (4) and Sebastian Söderberg (T9) |
The head start is how many strokes easier the draw has played than the toughest one, added up over the two rounds. A player seven under after Carnoustie and then Kingsbarns has played about as well as one six under after the Old Course and then Carnoustie.
Round 3
Round 3 completes the rotation, and it decides the 54-hole cut. Of the adjusted top 20, 8 still have Kingsbarns to play, the course that has played easiest: Matthew Jordan, Ivan Cantero, Sebastian Söderberg, JC Ritchie, Adrian Meronk, Andreas Halvorsen, Marcus Armitage and Hennie du Plessis. The other 12 finish the rotation at Carnoustie or the Old Course, which have played almost identically. Expect the first group to climb the board on Saturday without necessarily playing better golf.
How this is calculated
Every round is compared with the average score of the players on the same course that day, roughly 56 players per course per round. That removes the course and the weather, but the field average still carries some noise: with about 56 players, the course-day average is uncertain by about half a stroke, so small gaps in the table are not meaningful. Scores come from the official hole-by-hole scoring. Only players with every round complete are ranked.
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