David Carey and Declan Loftus were the only home players to match par as Mount Wolseley bared its teeth on the opening day of the Irish Challenge.
Dubliner Carey – already a professional for three years after taking the plunge as a raw 18-year-old – made an eagle and six birdies in his level par 72 and was left to wonder what might have been had he not triple bogeyed the first and double bogeyed the eighth.
“Having walked off the first three over and off the eighth two over, it’s a pretty good score,” said Carey, who plays on the third-tier EuroPro Tour but hopes to do well at the Q-school in a fortnight. “But if you look back at the other good holes you wonder what might have been.”
Castlebar native Loftus, a former Irish Intervarsity champion with Maynooth University, had four birdies and four bogeys on his card as he ended the day alongside Carey in a share of 12th.
They are well in touch with Sweden’s Oscar Lengden, who followed last Sunday’s Bridgestone Challenge win by making seven birdies in a four-under 68 to lead by a shot from Italy’s Jacopo Vecchi Fossa.
Perfect birthday present
Mount Wolseley’s touring professional Gavin Moynihan played well but had to hole a brace of 10-footers on the last two greens to grind out a two-over 74 and keep alive his hopes of giving himself the perfect 23rd birthday present on Sunday by winning his maiden title.
“It would have been annoying to drop two shots coming in because I thought I played pretty well,” said Moynihan, who finished the day tied for 42nd with Old Conna’s Neil O’Briain and Naas’s Conor O’Rourke, who is making his professional debut.
With a two to three club wind blowing and no run on a rain-softened course, just 11 players in the 151-strong field managed to break par.
Four Irish amateurs are in the field, with Tullamore’s Stuart Grehan the best of the bunch with a 76 as Tramore’s Robin Dawson shot 77, Warrenpoint’s Colm Campbell an 80 and Kilkenny’s Irish Boys champion Mark Power an 83.
