There were three former Ryder Cup players in the field for the Mitsubishi Electric-sponsored Links outing at Baltray yesterday, but even that impressive statistic - and the presence of frost which forced a two-hour delay to the proceedings - didn't scare Royal Dublin amateur John Hutchinson.
Far from it, in fact. Once the frost cleared, conditions were near to perfect and the former Leinster interprovincial, playing off one, stole the show with a nett 68 to take the top prize on count-back from big-hitting Ardee clubman Kevin Commins.
What of the Ryder Cup men? Padraig Harrington, who flies out to the Far East today had a gross 72 (nett 73); Philip Walton, who starts his Challenge Tour campaign next month, also had a gross 72, while Des Smyth shot a gross 74 (nett 75).
The top prizes, however, were taken by amateurs. And Hutchinson, a winner of the pre-Christmas outing over this course, showed his liking for Co Louth with a fine four-under-par 69 gross that featured five birdies (at the second and third to be out in 35 and further birdies at the 11th, 12th and 14th) with a solitary bogey at the 13th.
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/710e355a-3012-437a-904c-5afabdb28c99.png)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)