Alfred Dunhill Championship 2016: Thursday Leaderboard Scores and Highlights

The 2017 European Tour season kicked off on Thursday with the opening round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship, and two players are tied for the lead on six-under par after 18 holes of action.

The leading group at South Africa's Leopard Creek Country Club includes Paul Dunne and defending champion Charl Schwartzel after they shot rounds of 66.

Meanwhile, Scotsman Scott Jamieson finished on five-under after a 67, as did England's Max Orrin, Sweden's Alexander Bjork and Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal. South Africans Brandon Stone and Jean Hugo are also in the chasing group. 

Here is what the leaderboard looks like after the first round of action:  

#	Nat	Player	Score	Round 1
T1	IRL	Paul Dunne	-6	66
T1	RSA	Charl Schwartzel	-6	66
T3	RSA	Jean Hugo	-5	67
T3	SCO	Scott Jamieson	-5	67
T3	ESP	Pablo Larrazabal	-5	67
T3	ENG	Max Orrin	-5	67
T3	RSA	Brandon Stone	-5	67
T3	SWE	Alexander Bjork	-5	67

For full leaderboard, visit the European Tour website.

Thursday Recap

Four-time winner Schwartzel looked in typically fine form in Malelane, South Africa, on Thursday as he produced a bogey-less opening round.

He really kicked into gear on the back nine having picked up only one shot before the turn—at the par-three fifth—as he birdied 10, 11, 13, 15 and the last to finish in style.

Per the European Tour Twitter feed, he's got a wonderful record at this event:

Dunne is the only other man on six-under at the end of Day 1. The Irishman's round was all the more impressive for the fact it included a double-bogey six at the ninth. 

That blip aside, he picked up shots at the first, fourth, seventh, eighth, 11th, 13th, 15th and 17th and will go into Friday's action buoyed by a largely terrific opening round. If he can cut out the errors, Dunne looks likely to be in contention come Sunday evening.

World No. 16 Branden Grace was looking in similarly fine form after birdies on the first, second, fifth and sixth, and he moved to five-under after impressive work on the 13th, via the European Tour:

However, an errant approach to the par-five 15th went in the water, and he could only scramble a bogey. It was a mistake that seemed to knock the South African, a winner here in 2015, and another dropped shot at the last consigned him to three-under par for the opening round.

Jamieson's was an extraordinary, topsy-turvy round that included four bogeys, seven birdies, an eagle and six pars.

His highlight of the day was arguably his three at the par-five second, which came amid a blistering opening six holes, per the European Tour:

From the seventh, he then returned four pars and a bogey only to card two more bogeys and three more birdies from the 12th to finish five under par.

Stone was another man in excellent fettle, as he posted a five-under opening round. The South African spoke of his delight with how well he'd putted in the aftermath of his round. 

"I missed a few, but you can't have them all in the first day," he said, per the European Tour website. "But yeah, I putted superbly well. I holed some incredible putts today. I think the guys this morning, for the first nine holes, really had perfect scoring conditions, and I was very fortunate that I got to start on the back nine where you could pretty much get a score going."

Orrin, meanwhile, was looking good to finish on six-under, although he fell victim to a troublesome 18th and could only post 67 as a result. Hugo, meanwhile, strung together four consecutive birdies on the back nine to move into contention.