ST ANDREWS, October 2, 2014 (AFP) - Wilson, ranked 792nd in the world, belied his lowly status to card a superb eight-under-par 64 at Carnoustie, one of the three courses, along with St Andrews and Kingsbarns, used for the pro-am event.
That gave Wilson a one-shot lead over France's Raphael Jacquelin, with Ryder Cup vice-captain Padraig Harrington a shot further back alongside fellow Irishman Shane Lowry, whose 66 was the best score of the day at Kingsbarns.
Scotland's Stephen Gallacher was the best-placed of the quartet who helped Europe defeat the United States to retain the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles last weekend.
Gallacher recorded an 68, with fellow Ryder Cup rookie Victor Dubuisson returning a 71, world number one Rory McIlroy a 73 and Martin Kaymer a 74. European captain Paul McGinley shot 72 in just his second European Tour event since July.
Wilson, 34, has finished runner-up nine times on the European Tour, including in this event in 2009, but lost his card in 2012 and is currently trying to regain it via the Challenge Tour.
"Looking at the forecast, getting Carnoustie out of the way is theoretically the best thing, but you've still got to go and play and shoot a good score to take advantage of it, and I'm delighted that I have," he said.
Harrington was on course to match Wilson's score until he bogeyed the final two holes at Carnoustie, the course where he won the first of his back-to-back Open titles in 2007.
"You go out, your head is down and you're working away and you get on the first tee and the scorer reminds you that you won the Open Championship here, that's kind of nice," said Harrington, who has slipped to 324th in the world rankings after six years without a win on a major worldwide tour.
McIlroy managed just one birdie in his round and admitted it was hard to get motivated after the Ryder Cup victory.
"A little bit flat, if I'm honest," McIlroy told Sky Sports 4 when asked about his round.
"Obviously with the crowds and everything we were playing in front of last week, to come here it seems a little quiet out there, but it was fun to get to play with my dad.
"I wish I had played a bit better and made a few more birdies but hopefully that will happen over the next couple of days."
Leading and selected first round scores in the European Tour's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns on Thursday (GBR/IRL unless stated, par 72):
Kingsbarns
66 - Shane Lowry
67 - Jamie McLeary, Ryan Evans, Eduardo De La Riva (ESP)
68 - Thriston Lawrence (RSA), Richard Green (AUS)
69 - Hennie Otto (RSA), Paul Lawrie, Justin Walters (RSA), Gary Stal (FRA)
70 - Matthew Nixon, Peter Lawrie, Trevor Fisher Jnr (RSA), Scott Jamieson
71 - Richard Bland, Carlos Del Moral (ESP), Thomas Aiken (RSA), Paul Waring, Mark Anguiano (USA), Tom Lewis, Tyrrell Hatton, David Drysdale, Nathan Holman (AUS), Nacho Elvira (ESP), Ashley Hall (AUS)
72 - Brandon Stone (RSA), Nick Dougherty, Jens Dantorp (SWE), Moritz Lampert (GER), Emiliano Grillo (ARG), Romain Wattel (FRA), Danie Van Tonder (RSA), Richard Finch, Niclas Fasth (SWE)
Selected:
75 - Justin Harding (RSA), Wade Ormsby (AUS)
77 - Jeong Jin (KOR)
79 - Brody Ninyette (AUS)
80 - Dimitrios Papadatos (AUS)
St Andrews
67 - Robert Rock, Adrian Otaegui (ESP)
68 - John Parry, Graeme Storm
69 - Ricardo Gonzalez (ARG), Marcel Siem (GER)
70 - David McKenzie (AUS), Chris Wood, Andrew Sullivan, Shiv Kapur (IND)
71 - Roope Kakko (FIN), Ulrich Van Den Berg (RSA), Sandy Lyle, Darren Clarke, Seve Benson, Pablo Larrazabal (ESP), Alvaro Quiros (ESP)
72 - Steve Webster, Maximilian Kieffer (GER), Gareth Maybin, Ricardo Santos (POR), Matteo Manassero (ITA), Morten Orum Madsen (DEN), James Morrison, Jason Scrivener (AUS), Andrea Pavan (ITA), Julien Quesne (FRA), Michael Hoey
Selected:
73 - Merrick Bremner (RSA), Nick Cullen (AUS), Darren Fichardt (RSA)
74 - Brett Rumford (AUS)
75 - Jbe Kruger (RSA)
76 - James Kingston (RSA)
78 - Kim Sihwan (KOR)
79 - Oliver Bekker (RSA)
Carnoustie
64 - Oliver Wilson
65 - Raphael Jacquelin (FRA)
66 - Padraig Harrington
67 - Gregory Bourdy (FRA)
68 - Stephen Gallacher, Mark Foster, Alexander Levy (FRA)
69 - Paul Casey, Richie Ramsay, Tommy Fleetwood, Ryan Palmer (USA)
70 - Brooks Koepka (USA), David Howell, Louis Oosthuizen (RSA), Christopher Doak
71 - Craig Lee, Nick Faldo, George Coetzee (RSA), Johan Carlsson (Swe), Simon Khan, Thongchai Jaidee (THA), Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Victor Dubuisson (Fra), Ernie Els (RSA), Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN), Keith Horne (RSA), Bernd Wiesberger (AUT)
72 - Adrien Saddier (FRA), Robert Karlsson (SWE), Joost Luiten (NED), Soren Hansen (DEN), Colin Montgomerie, Alejandro Canizares (ESP), Paul McGinley
Selected:
73 - Rory McIlroy, Matthew Griffin (AUS), Richard Sterne (RSA)
74 - Martin Kaymer (GER)
75 - Ruan De Smidt (RSA), Charl Schwartzel (RSA), Haydn Porteous
(RSA)
76 - Jeev Milkha Singh (IND), Branden Grace (RSA), Louis De Jager (RSA)
78 - David Duval (USA)