England's Ferguson grabs the early lead

Irish Amateur Open: Life is full of tough lessons, of ups and downs. Yesterday, on the 16th hole of the opening round of the AIB Irish Amateur Open Strokeplay championship on the O'Meara course at Carton House, a devilishly difficult par three of 180 yards where the approach shot to the green is played for the most part over water, Rory McIlroy, the precocious teenager who has instilled new flair into the Irish amateur game, was given a little reminder that golf takes as much as it gives.

On a day when a swirling wind and fast greens (running up to 11 on the Stimpmetre) made conditions more difficult than expected, the 16-year-old had shown impressive maturity, even when the 16th inflicted a triple bogey six that transformed a solid round into a "disappointing" one of 77. It left McIlroy all of 10 shots adrift of first-round leader Joe Ferguson of England.

"I'd struggled all day, but was still holding it together pretty well (until the 16th)," said McIlroy, who became the youngest winner of the West of Ireland when taking the title last month.

The costly shot was a pulled seven-iron, and the error was compounded when the ball struck a gate sluice, nothing more than an ornamental feature by the greenside, and ricocheted into the pond. The lie from the penalty drop didn't do him any favours either, and it took him a further three strokes to finally get the ball into the hole.

Yet, there was a modicum of comfort for McIlroy from the words subsequently spoken by playing partner Nigel Edwards, the hero of Britain and Ireland's Walker Cup win in 2003, who is also the golf co-ordinator with the Welsh Golf Union.

"Rory's obviously got a bright future, he looks pretty mature for 16," he said. "If I was in his position at 16 I don't know how I'd have handled it.

"There's obviously big expectations on him in Ireland, but I think it's better if everyone just lets him get on with his golf and let his scores do the talking," added Edwards, who opened with a 73.

While the Irish Amateur Open is one of the designated events to count towards Walker Cup selection for the match with the United States in Chicago next August, when Garth McGimpsey will again captain the team, Edwards believes it is better to focus on each tournament rather than anticipate potential selection.

"It's a big ask for anyone to make the team, it's a tough team to make. There's 120 players teeing up in tournaments for the next few weeks," he added.

Still, the thought of Walker Cup selection was not something that had overly occupied the thoughts of leader Ferguson, a plus-two handicapper from Kidderminster in the English midlands. For much of the winter he spends his time working as a barman in a nightclub called Bushwhackers in Worcester, before effectively playing full-time golf once the season kicks in. His primary goal at the start of the year was to force his way on to the English team.

Yesterday the 21-year-old shot a five-under-par round of 67 that gave him a one-stroke lead over Irish international Darren Crowe from Dunmurry, and a two-shot lead over Irish boys international Séamus Power from West Waterford.

Ferguson took just 27 putts in a round that had six birdies, including a 35-footer on the sixth, and a lone bogey, on the eighth which played as the most difficult hole on the course with an average of 4.7 shots.

Crowe made a promising start to last week's Lytham Trophy when he opened with a 69, only to follow up with a 79.

"I'm not going to let that happen this week," he said after his first round that featured five birdies and a bogey.

Indeed, having turned in level par, the 24-year-old Belfastman's best work was done on the homeward run where he had a hat-trick of birdies from the 11th, holing from 15, 20 and five feet. He then finished off with a precisely struck wedge approach to six feet for a closing birdie on the 18th.

An indication of the tough scoring conditions, on a day when rounds took a frustratingly long time of up to five hours and 20 minutes to complete, was that just three players - Ferguson, Crowe and Power - managed to beat par.

The primary aim, though, for most of the field heading into the second round is to be among the top 40 players who will survive the cut before the real business takes place tomorrow with two rounds.