Peter O'Malley shot a sparkling eight-under-par 64 at Carnoustie to move into a three-way tie for the lead at the Dunhill Links.
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Australian Peter O'Malley shot a sparkling eight-under-par 64 at Carnoustie to move into a three-way tie for the lead at the Dunhill Links Championship.
O'Malley is alongside England's Nick Dougherty and South African Hennie Otto after the round of the tournament so far.
Carnoustie is usually considered the toughest of the three courses at this multi-venue event and O'Malley completely overwhelmed it.
He started with three straight birdies and added another at the sixth, but he really got hot after the turn.
Five birdies in six holes to the 15th had him looking set to break the course record as he moved to nine-under for the round, but he dropped his only shot of the day at the 268-yard par three 16th and had to settle for a share of that record with Scot Colin Montgomerie.
The 42-year-old from New South Wales is 54th on the Order of Merit and is looking for his fourth European Tour win and his first since the 2001 English Open.
O'Malley's day ended on a high note, but it almost got off to a disastrous start when he realised he had left his clubs back at his guesthouse.
"I was driving to Carnoustie and I heard something rattling in the car boot," he explained.
"As soon as I heard that I knew I hadn't put the clubs in the car. I rang my wife but her phone wasn't on so I rang the lady at the guest house. She put the clubs in her car and met me halfway at Leuchars Railway station.
"My caddie told me that after the way the day started it had the makings to be a good one and it was."
Dougherty was also playing Carnoustie and had a 66, while Otto shot 67 at St Andrews.
In a closely-bunched leaderboard, the trio are a shot clear of a group of five players that includes South African former Open champion Ernie Els, who had 67 round St Andrews.
Open champion Padraig Harrington is still in the hunt after a 66 at St Andrews got him to eight-under, but home favourite Colin Montgomerie is unlikely to make the three-round cut after a 71 at St Andrews left him adrift at one over.
Justin Rose, second behind Harrington in the race for the Order of Merit title, carded a 69 at the Old course for a seven-under 137.
The 27-year-old Englishman, who won the St Andrews Links Trophy at the home of golf as an amateur 10 years ago, felt a lack of confidence on the greens had hindered his progress.
"I putted terribly today," he said after three-putting the last from 15 feet. "I had no confidence with the putter which was a shame.
"Compared to the greens at Carnoustie these were not as true and I couldn't get the roll. It was a perfect day for scoring and while three-under is acceptable, it's not great."
