Alfred Dunhill Links Championship 2015: Thursday Leaderboard Scores, Highlights

Paul Dunne, Jimmy Mullen and Kristoffer Broberg shared the lead at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, Scotland, after the first day of action, all three playing a round of 64 to grab a one-shot advantage over a host of other players.

Both Dunne and Mullen made their pro debut on Thursday, but the two youngsters looked like seasoned veterans out on Kingsbarns, the course providing most of the low scores. Broberg was the lone player to shoot better than five-under on the Old Course, while none of golfers starting on Carnoustie cracked the top 10.

Here's a look at the current leaderboard:

Pos	Player	To Par	Thursday's Score	Thursday Course
T1	Kristoffer Broberg	-8	64	Old Course
T1	Jimmy Mullen	-8	64	Kingsbarns
T1	Paul Dunne	-8	64	Kingsbarns
T4	Soren Kjeldsen	-7	65	Kingsbarns
T4	Richard Bland	-7	65	Kingsbarns
T4	Anthony Wall	-7	65	Kingsbarns
7	Marcus Fraser	-6	66	Kingsbarns
T8	Peter Lawrie	-5	67	Kingsbarns
T8	Alexander Levy	-5	67	Kingsbarns
T8	Felipe Aguilar	-5	67	Old Course

To access the full leaderboard, visit the European Tour's official website by clicking here. 

Recap

Perfect weather and a fast playing surface made for a number of low scores, with the group of golfers starting at Kingsbarns doing most of the damage. Mullen leads the field with a round of eight under, tied with Broberg, who played a fantastic round on the Old Course.

The Swede was flawless on Thursday, making birdie four times on the front-nine and emulating the feat on the back-nine. His approach on the sixth was a thing of beauty, as shared by the European Tour's official Twitter account:

Broberg wasn't perfect from the tee but made up for it by going 18/18 on his scrambles. With the tough Old Course now out of the way, he appears to be in prime position to make a run at this year's title.

The youngsters stole the show, however. Mullen, an accomplished amateur golfer playing his first-ever round as a pro did a fantastic job keeping his composure, making eight birdies and one eagle on his way to a round of eight under.

The 22-year-old suffered two bogeys, at the seventh and 17th, but each time he was able to make up the difference with a birdie within his next two holes. His performance was even more impressive in light of Mullen's standing in the world of golf, via National Club Golfer:

Mullen's early success isn't going to his head, as shared by the European Tour's official live blog of the event: "According to our source at Kingsbarns, namely European Tour Senior Press Officer Paul Symes, co-leader Jimmy Mullen said he'd be celebrating starting his professional career with a supreme 64 by chowing down on a chicken pie followed by a desert of shortbread and flapjacks. Remarkable."

More from the co-leader:

"

It's great. Didn't quite expect it obviously to shoot eight under first time out. But Pablo helped me along; he's such a nice guy, and the two amateurs we were playing with, Miguel (Duenas) and my partner, Pascal (Alfaro), just guys. Just a jolly out there really. It was just great fun. I've only played one round, so I wouldn't say it's easy. Got a lot of learning to do and just looking forward to tomorrow.

"

And then there was Paul Dunne, that other promising youngster making his debut as a professional. The 22-year-old shocked everyone by taking the lead at the Open earlier this year, and it took him just six holes to make his mark on the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, scoring an incredible hole in one.

As shared by Betfair, it's been quite the year for the promising Irishman:

According to Stephen Hennessey of Golf Digest, it was only the 10th ace in tournament history, and after two bogeys on the back-nine, it was exactly what Dunne needed to find his groove. He was flawless the rest of the way, making six more birdies to grab a share of the lead.

The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is a pro-am tournament, and while the amateurs usually don't do much apart from entertain the crowd and provide some laughs, they can sometimes produce moments of magic. Who knew Irish singer Ronan Keating was this handy with a putter?

Not to be outdone, actor Jamie Dornan did this:

Mullen, Broberg and Dunne looked mightily impressive on Thursday, but thanks to the easy playing conditions, they weren't the only ones to lock in low scores. A total of three players sit just one shot back, so the race to win this year's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship looks to be a tight one.  

 Follow @ReverschPass