Irish rookies Mark Power and Tom McKibbin shine at Alfred Dunhill Links Championship opening round

Rookies Mark Power and Tom McKibbin have so far been impressive at the 2023 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. They were the best Irish golfers at the tournament after finishing with a score of two-under 70 on Thursday, October 5, at St.Andrews.

They settled for 60th place in a tie with Richard Mansell, Ryan Van Velzen, Matt Kuchar, David Howell, Nicolai Von Dellingshausen, Robert MacIntyre, Nathan Kimsey, Alex Fitzpatrick, Adrian Meronk, Rory Franssen, Simon Forsstrom, David Micheluzzi, Oliver Wilson, Sean Crocker, Eddie Pepperell, Luca Filippi, David Micheluzzi, Matthew Baldwin, Aaron Wilkin, Julien Guerrier, Marc Warren, Clement Sordet, and Ewen Ferguson.

Power and McKibbin will resume their play six strokes behind the opening-round leaders Sebastian Soderberg, Adri Arnaus and Peter Uihlein, who tied for first place with a score of under eight.

Grant Forrest settled for fourth place with Wilco Nienaber, Billy Horschel, Nicolas Colsaertz, Zander Lombard and Billy Horschel. The 2023 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is underway from Thursday, October 5 and will have its finale on Sunday, October 8.

The tournament has a purse of $5 million and features some of the best golfers of the DP World Tour.

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Tom McKibbin's career

Ton McKibbin is a professional Irish golfer. He was born on December 19 2002 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. During his amateur career, McKibbin has reached the final of the Australian Amateur at Royal Queensland in 2020. He turned pro in 2021, joining the Challenge Tour before making his debut on the European Tour.

He started his professional journey playing at the Tenerife Open but unfortunately missed the cut at the event. He won the first professional tournament of his career at the 2022 Minor League Tour in Florida.

Towards the end of 2022, McKibbin made it to the top 10 in the Challenge Tour Rankings and earned the European Tour card for the 2023 season.

He won his first DP World Tour event at the Porsche European Open in Germany in June.

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Mark Power stunned fans with his debut at the Irish Open

Mark Power is an Irish golfer. His parents are both three-time Irish Close champions. He has done his graduation from Wake Forest University and made a professional debut at the 2023 Irish Open.

Power has an amazing amateur career and has played at the Walker Cup. He stunned golf fans with an opening round of 68 at the Irish Open followed by a second round of 71.

Speaking about his professional career, Power said (via The Irish Times):

“It’s always been a dream of mine to be here and I do have goals to get my tour card and, in the long run, try and play at the very top level. But to take it one step at a time and play whatever opportunities I get right now and just try and play to give myself the best opportunity to get that tour card.”