ST ANDREWS: India's Shubhankar Sharma had a rough start as he carded two-over 74 in the opening round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Sharma was down five over after five holes, but made a valiant attempt thereafter to repair the damage at the Old Course, St. Andrews.
The players play a round each at the Old Course, Kingsbarns and Carnoustie before the final round at Old Course.
Teeing up at the Old Course, Sharma had pars on 10th and 11th but then bogeyed 12th and 13th. The Indian then dropped a triple bogey on Par-5.
A birdie on 17th was followed by a bogey on second. He then had three birdies on fourth, fifth and seventh to finish at 74.
Sharma plays his second round at the Carnoustie Course, considered the toughest of the three.
Due to forecast bad weather on Friday, round two of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship will have a shotgun start across the three courses for all competitors.
Frenchman Romain Langasque equalled Ross Fisher's Old Course record of 61 to claim the first round lead.
Langasque's fellow countrymen Frederic Lacroix and Antoine Rozner were not far behind him with a 62 and a 63, at Kingsbarns and St Andrews respectively, on a memorable day for French golf.
Denmark's Niklas Norgaard Moller also shot a 63 at Kingsbarns, to lie in third place alongside Rozner, while Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry and other big names playing at Carnoustie had to settle for supporting roles as day one was dominated by low scoring in the sunshine at St Andrews and Kingsbarns.
Tournament favourite McIlroy, meanwhile, had to be content with a four-under-par 68 at Carnoustie, as did Tyrrell Hatton, Robert MacIntyre and Francesco Molinari.
Lowry and Tommy Fleetwood, also playing at Carnoustie, shot 70 while US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick and popular American Billy Horschel could only manage 71s there.
