Alfred Dunhill Links Championship 2024 FRL Tips: Four to fire on Thursday

The DP World Tour heads to Scotland this week and our golf tipster Jamie Worsley has already posted his Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Betting Preview here at Betfred Insights.

Now though, he focuses on the First Round Leader market and has four names to consider to start fast out of the traps. Check out his Alfred Dunhill Links Championship FRL Tips below...

*You can get all the latest Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Odds over at betfred.com

The first-round leader betting for this week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is split into three markets – one for each course. This creates opportunity in itself, which is all the more important due to the compact group of tee times meaning that a time/weather-based draw bias is not really possible.

In tomorrow’s cool but relatively calm opening round, the majority of the top players in the field – which includes the likes of Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Tommy Fleetwood - will tee off at the more demanding Carnoustie.

That leaves us with much more open contests at the other two venues, and it’s at St Andrews and Kingsbarns that I’ll focus my attention this week.

1 pt Nick Bachem (Kingsbarns) ew (1/5, 5 places) @ 45/1 

Nick Bachem halted a run of four missed cuts in Spain last week, finishing 57^th. Having done most of his best work this year on open, linksy courses, he can carry that positivity into tomorrow’s opening round at the suitable Kingsbarns.

The big-hitting German’s best finish this year came in the SDC Championship at St Francis Links, finishing 4^th. He then emphasised his liking for these links/links-like tests by finishing 26^th in an elite field at the Scottish Open back in July.

He’s struggled to hit the upper echelons of the leaderboards too often this year, largely due to poor approach play and inaccurate driving. However, he’s been producing some positive approach displays of late and his wayward driving isn’t too much of a concern around this setup, where he can let fly with driver into the very generous fairways.

Bachem made his debut here last year, finishing 25^th. Just like this week, he began that event at Kingsbarns and performed excellently, firing a 6-under 66 – the second-best round of the day on the course – and I’m hoping he can go one better tomorrow.

0.75 pts Will Enefer (Kingsbarns) ew (1/5, 5 places) @ 55/1

Will Enefer showed his fondness for the links when finishing 17^th at Royal County Down in the Irish Open two starts ago, an event in which he started well. He can use his length off the tee, along with a recent upturn in form on the greens, to make another fast start at Kingsbarns on Thursday.

Enefer turned pro back in 2016 when still a teenager, but in just a short amateur career he evidenced his links ability, finishing 9^th in the English Amateur at Ganton Golf Club – an inland links course in Yorkshire – and 17^th in the Amateur Championship at Royal Porthcawl.

He’s made steady progress in his professional career, starting off on the EuroPro Tour, where he won in 2021. Making his way to the Challenge Tour last year, he wasted no time in earning that instant upgrade to the DP World Tour, finishing 15^th on the Road To Mallorca rankings.

Enefer’s rookie DPWT season has been tough but it’s a huge positive that his best performance came on the links in Ireland two starts ago. He opened with a 3-under 68 to sit in 4^th place after the first round there and starting this week’s event in the weaker of tomorrow’s three first-round fields, he can go even better at Kingsbarns.

0.75 pts Dylan Frittelli (Old Course, St Andrews) ew (1/5, 5 places) @ 55/1

A couple from the Old Course now, starting with South Africa’s Dylan Frittelli. He’s struggled for form since winning the Bahrain Championship earlier in the year, but as a sneakily good links player who threatened to go well in last week’s opening round in Spain, he’s chanced to top the leaderboard at St Andrews.

His win in Bahrain at the linksy Royal Golf Club was Frittelli’s first on the DPWT since 2017. He’s missed more cuts than he’s made following that success, but there has been some encouragement to be found in recent events, especially last week in relation to this market.

Though ultimately finishing 61^st in Madrid, he sat in 41^st after the opening round. It was a round that promised to be much better than that at one point, as he shot 3-under on his front nine to move up into the top-5, but succumbed to the difficult conditions on the back, eventually finishing the day at +1.

In less demanding conditions in Scotland and at a course where his erratic but lengthy driving won’t be as severely punished, I’d be more confident of him maintaining that start if he indeed gets going early again this week.

Frittelli missed the cut on his Dunhill Links debut in 2012, though did shoot an encouraging 4-under 68 at this course. He fired another 68 here in the final round in 2017 – his only other previous start – and as a player who has finished inside the top-40 in each of his last three Open Championship appearances, including finishing 5^th in 2021, he can put those positive links experiences to good use tomorrow.

0.75 pts Renato Paratore (Old Course, St Andrews) ew (1/5, 5 places) @ 70/1 

We were on Renato Paratore for first-round leader in last week’s Open de Espana. Though not quite threatening there, he again showed promise and possessing a good record at the Old Course, he looks worth another shot this week.

Paratore missed the cut in Spain but battled through tough conditions in the opening round to post a 1-over 72 and sit in 41^st place. While that may not seem like much, it’s the third time in a row he’s shot better than average in the first round and with the driver now starting to behave itself for this excellent short-game performer, he’s a player showing signs of finding some form.

He does have some appealing links credentials; indeed we saw that when he ended a run of missed cuts to finish 45^th in Ireland and he also finished 7^th here back in 2016. He shot a 68 at the Old Course that week and has continued to perform well into these inviting fairways, shooting a 66 in 2019 and produced his best ever performance at the course last year, shooting 65 in the final round.

Those positive experiences should serve him well and when combined with his improving form - especially in round one – it makes him worth following in tomorrow’s opening round of the Dunhill Links.

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