Victorian Cameron John surprise 36 hole Alfred Dunhill leader
Cameron John – file photo Australian Golf Media
Melbourne’s Cameron John has taken advantage of a rare start in a DP World Tour event by sharing the lead at the halfway stage of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.
John, who gained a start in the US$5 million event through his standing on the 2023/2024 PGA Tour of Australasia, followed up his stunning opening round of 62 at Kingsbarns Golf Club on Thursday with a round of 68 over the Old Course at St Andrews overnight, a round that included a triple bogey, to lead along with Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts.
The pair are one clear of South African Darren Fichardt and Scotland’s David Law in the event played over three courses before returning to St Andrews on Sunday for the final round.
The 25-year-old John won earlier in the year in a lesser PGA Tour of Australasia at the National Links, but this is his first event on a recognized tour since, so his stunning start to the event has seen him box well above his weight in a quality field that includes Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, and the like.
New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier is just two off the lead at 12 under while David Micheluzzi is at 10 under and tied for 13th place.
John is enjoying his experience in playing some of the game’s best links layouts including tomorrow when he will tackle perhaps the most demanding of the three layouts used in the pro-am formatted event, Carnoustie
It’s just fun. Like it’s you don’t get it a lot back home, the odd course that plays similar but nothing quite the same,” said John referring to the week thus far. And that’s kind of just the outlook of the week, just enjoy it, take it all in, walking up 18, it’s always pretty special, so just remember it.”
He knows the task ahead to keep the momentum going at Carnoustie.
“I mean, I’ve only been out there the once and I think that was Tuesday. It was awesome and I mean, I played it into a Northerly, so those last few holes were quite tricky. It’s going to be kind of opposite. So it will be a little bit like learning it all over again.”
A cut will be made after tomorrow’s third round.
