GOLF: Irish selectors were out in force to watch the elite amateur field not only compete for the first 36 holes of the Mullingar Friends First Scratch Cup, but also claim a place on the Irish side for Ireland's assault on the World Cup for the first time in Kuala Lumpur in October.
While the top flight Irish panel of Ken Kearney, Justin Kehoe, Colm Moriarty, Noel Fox, Tim Rice and Andrew McCormick were all in the field, it was Eoin O'Sullivan (27) who led at yesterday's halfway point.
The Island golfer returned two rounds of four under par (68) for an overall lead of eight-under-par 136, which under the unusually heavy circumstances was excellent shooting.
With casual water around the course and placing allowed on the fairways, that the lengthened course was playable at all for the tournament was testament to the huge effort put in by Mullingar golf Club.
The sodden rough was a place to avoid, with a number of players unable to find their drives as they plugged in the lush, soft ground. Other than that the Mullingar weather was humid and windless, with a warm sun breaking through in the afternoon for almost perfect scoring conditions.
But clearly the course was playing long, with little hope of any of the players coming close to the amateur record of 60 set by Portmarnock's Noel Fox in last year's competition.
Title holder Colm Moriarty, fresh from his win in the South of Ireland in Lahinch, ominously kept in touch for today's final two rounds at four under par, along with Cork's Padraig Dooley.
Scrabo's Andrew McCormick followed his morning's 70 with a 69 for a five-under-par total.
But it was the Leinster player who captured the day. Two birdies in the opening nine for a 34 and three more on the return with a bogey for another 34 left O'Sullivan a shot ahead of four players, local radiologist and former professional John Morris, Joe Lyons (Birr), Paul O'Hara (Kilkenny) and David O'Donovan (Muskerry) before another surge in the afternoon.
"I'd five birdies and one bogey in the morning. That's it," said the Bank of Scotland official, who spent four years at college in Florida before becoming disillusioned with the game.
"I went to the states on a four-year golf scholarship and studied business, came back in 1999 and really then I gave up. I played socially, lost interest in the game to be honest. But in the last two years I've regained the interest," he said.
A 30-foot putt for an eagle following a drive and three wood to the green on the par five fourth, coupled with two birdies, brought O'Sullivan to seven under par after 27 holes and put him firmly in the driving seat.
Moving to nine under par with birdies at the 14th and 162-yard par-three 15th, a misjudged iron left O'Sullivan short of the green on 16 for a bogey. However, he went on to secure a convincing overnight lead.
With the kind of recovery Moriarity displayed last year when he came back from three behind to overhaul leader Noel Fox and win by five shots, today's play is far from predictable.
