Thirsty golf fans benefit from ace

At least one Irishman gave the dry-throated patrons at Druids Glen yesterday something to cheer about. On a day when just three home players (out of 23) managed to break par, Jimmy Heggarty's hole-in-one at the 167 yard eighth hole led to queues at day's end as spectators celebrated the feat with free pints of Murphy's.

"About the only good thing I did out there," joked Heggarty of his ace that led to the sponsors dispensing some 10,000 pints of stout. Apart from his six-iron shot that "took one bounce and popped in", Heggarty had little else to celebrate. An opening round of 76 sadly put him off the early pace.

In fact, Eamonn Darcy, the host club's touring professional, who had 68, and Padraig Harrington and Stephen Hamill were the only home challengers to dip under par. Both Harrington and Hamill shot rounds of 70 and, if Hamill was content enough with his day's work, Harrington wasn't. "I'm happy with the score, but not with my game," conceded the Dubliner. "I'm just not swinging the club well and I paid the price with some poor drives."

An indication of Harrington's scrambling powers was his par at the 16th after his second shot finished in deep rough, somewhat fortunately two yards short of a furze bush. The Dubliner opened up an eight-iron and played a superb recovery to the front bunker, and got up and down.

His world cup winning partner of two years ago didn't mange to conjure up such powers of recovery, though. Paul McGinley - playing alongside John Daly and Seve Ballesteros - shot a disastrous opening 79. "I've no excuses, I just played dreadful. The eight (quadruple bogey) on the 13th (his fourth hole) just took the stuffing out of me," said McGinley.

For Richie Coughlan, it proved to be an up-and-down round. Five birdies were cancelled out by five bogeys which meant he signed for a level par 71 on his first ever European Tour event. "I'm giving myself chances, and that means I can improve even further," he insisted.

Live coverage of the Murphy Irish Open with up-to-the-minute score updates will be provided throughout the tournament by SportsExtra@ireland.com and can be accessed at www.ireland.com/ sports/golf/.