England teenager Harley Smith tied the amateur course record as he raced into the lead on day one of the Flogas Irish Men’s Amateur Open Championship at The Island on Thursday.
It was a stunning round of 67 for a five under total from the 18-year-old Essex golfer, taking a one-shot overnight lead over Scotland’s Ross Laird even though he played in the difficult half of the draw.
The weather improved dramatically in the afternoon and there were perfect conditions for a star-studded field which included 10 of the Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup squad.
The Irish were well represented on the leader board too with Caolan Rafferty (Dundalk) carding a three-under 69 to sit third in the standings.
Elsewhere, Keith Egan (Carton House) and Paul Coughlan (Castleknock) also finished inside the top four after rounds of 70.
“I come to every event to try and win but I play to try and beat the golf course every time I play,” said Smith.
“I don’t really worry about it as there are such good players playing in these events, you don’t know what they are going to shoot. I just play to beat the golf course and see what happens.”
Rayleigh clubman Smith was outstanding on the front nine and eventually finished the day with six birdies. He was three under after just six holes and closed his round with a pair of birdies to take the clubhouse lead early on Thursday.
Laird is on four under and the Irish will be looking to make even more of an impression tomorrow with Robert Brazill (Naas), Alex Maguire (Laytown & Bettystown), David Reddan (Nenagh) and Conor Murtagh (The Island) also under par, and four shots behind Smith.
“I was planning to shoot around par. I played the practice round yesterday and it was very tough. I went out there today and made sure that I stuck to a really good game plan of hitting it to the right side of the flag,” said Smith.
‘I nipped a couple of birdies early on the par five and 18th which put me two under at the turn and I played very solid coming in.
“The back nine is definitely harder than the front nine. Starting on the back nine and getting off to a good start definitely gave me a lot of momentum coming into the front nine and I played really well from there.”
