WEST OF IRELAND:BALLYCLARE'S SIMON McConnell didn't have high hopes as he stood on the first tee looking into the wind and rain in Rosses Point yesterday afternoon, but he surprised himself with his play to such an extent that he ended the first day at the Radisson-Blu West of Ireland championship as the only player to break par.
“There are far better players in the field than me,” a humble McConnell said, “so it’s great to be in with a shout of leading qualifier. But we’ll see.
“I’m just over the moon. It wasn’t easy – the wind died down for the last four holes but, with the wind and rain, I would have been happy with a 75 standing on the first tee.”
While most of the field struggled with the early holes at the Sligo links, McConnell hit back from an opening bogey to birdie the second, third and fifth, and although bogeys followed on the seventh and eighth, he birdied the 11th to leave him two under for the day playing the difficult 17th.
Despite drawing a bad lie from his tee-shot and taking a double bogey, he birdied the last to take the outright lead by one from Lucan teenager Richard O’Donovan.
“I putted really well today,” McConnell continued. “I had a great day on the greens, which was important where the pins were on some holes.”
O’Donovan, meanwhile, blistered his way through the back nine in 32 (three under) after dropping three shots on the way out.
“It was a great round for me, to be honest. To come back in three under was great – I think the back nine was harder, to be honest, with the wind off the left. But I hit the ball great, and I putted well too – holed a good few putts to keep the momentum.
“I’m out early tomorrow so hopefully the weather will hold. It’s all about making the cut. I’m scrambling well at the moment so this sort of weather suits me. I’ll just keep plugging away.”
One shot further back on one over are Rathmore’s Alan Dunbar, Moyola Park’s Luke Lennox and Newlands’ Andrew Hogan.
Castle’s Darragh Lernihan looked set to join the leading group when he reached the 17th tee level for his round.
But a bogey there was followed by a disaster at the last, where he hit two drives out of bounds onto the practice ground right of the fairway.
From his second provisional (his fifth), he made birdie to finish the hole with a seven, and lies in a large pack at four over.
South of Ireland champion Robbie Cannon was also happy with his 75 in which he recovered from a seven at the seventh hole, where he found the water.
“The weather was so bad that after four holes I was just thinking what sort of an injury could I dream up to get me out of there. But I actually played really well, particularly after the seventh.”
Galway’s Joe Lyons, the most recent West of Ireland champion in this year’s field, opened with a 77, while Irish Close champion Pat Murray (Limerick), suffered disaster on the front nine on his way to an 83.
Due to conditions slowing down play, the first round was suspended at 8.10pm with a handful of players due out at 7.45 this morning to finish. Tee times are not being affected for the second round.
