Keenan defies the elements

IRISH STROKEPLAY CHAMPIONSHIP: THE MOBILE scoreboard became the wailing wall as high winds sent scores soaring into the nineties in the opening round of the Irish Amateur Open at Royal Dublin.

Gale force winds gusting over 40 mph forced officials to suspend play for 80 minutes at 8.40am, just over an hour after the start of play, as they feared that balls would soon start moving on the more exposed greens. Yet flags were still being blown out of holes as the morning wore on.

The south-west wind abated somewhat as the day wore on but the constant stream of long faces did not and Esker Hills' international Shane Lowry and Limerick's Pat Murray were less than happy with the set-up of the course as they carded rounds of 79 and 84 respectively at the fabled Bull Island links. Even defending champion Pedro Figueiredo of Portugal, a winner on 10 under par last year, shot an 85.

"It's a bit of a joke out there," said Lowry, whose 79 left him just five adrift of leader Farren Keenan's superb 74. "It is not really golf. You can't hole putts and you are just happy to two-putt from 10 feet and to just hole a two-footer.

"Holes such as the 10th (462 yards) are playing too long and you couldn't reach three of the par fours in regulation on the back nine. I thought there should have been a couple more tees up. It was borderline (playable)."

Murray had a quadruple bogey eight at the last which turned what would have been a respectable 80 into an 84. The 37-year old former international said: "I am a long time playing in these championships and it is the first time I could honestly put my hand on my heart and say that was not playable and I have played Rosses Point in some horrendous conditions.

"Flags were being blown out of the holes on the 13th, 16th and 18th. If you had a three-foot putt that was right half, you are coaxing it left side. The tees at the 10th, 12th and 13th and 17th should have been 50 yards forward of where they were."

While the tee at the 214-yard par-three seventh was pushed forward by 35 yards and the fourth, 10th, 12th and 13th were also reduced slightly, many players felt that it was just too tough a test.

But Seamus Smith, General Secretary of the GUI and a member of the championship committee, defended the decisions taken, explaining: "This is the Irish Amateur Open Championship and we play off the Championship tees.

"If conditions make it impossible, we will certainly move tees forward but it is already a non-qualifying event from the point of view of CSS. There will be no CSS today because we moved more than the required number of yards to allow that to happen, specifically at one hole."

The 14 Walker Cup squad members in action average 79.21 with Scotland's Wallace Booth the best of the bunch after a 76 that left him two behind 24-year old England international Keenan, who had two birdies and four bogeys in a 74 that put him a stroke clear of Portmarnock's James Fox, Royal Dublin's Niall Kearney and Finland's Miro Veijalainen.

Bidding to become the first Irish winner of the title since his brother Noel won here in 2003, Fox had five birdies, five bogeys and a triple bogey seven at the 10th as he carded his 75 in the first match of the day while South of Ireland champion Kearney was particularly impressive as he played his final 13 holes in just one-over par.