Tour pros lead the way

The gnashing of teeth as victims walked off the various greens was barely audible, and some could have been advised to visit a psychiatrist such was the trauma of putting on wickedly undulating terrain. Yet, Paul McGinley and Padraig Harrington proved that the course could be tamed as they assumed the first round lead in the Smurfit Irish PGA Championship at Powerscourt yesterday.

"It was a bit like using a lobber to get a ball onto my kingsize bed," remarked Philip Walton of the task facing players on approach play and, indeed, McGinley concurred that the "landing areas are a bit too small," adding: "Your short game just has to be so good - miss the area where you want to go and you're faced with 40-foot putts."

Although the tees were moved forward on six holes (reducing the length of the course by almost 300 yards) and the weather, in the main, was quite benign, the course proved too much for many players. Only four managed to beat the par of 72, with McGinley and Harrington, partners on the winning team in last year's World Cup of Golf, shooting best-of-the-day 70s, and Des Smyth, a five-time winner, and Foxrock club professional David Walker both a shot further back on 71.

Not everybody was heavily critical of the greens. "They're like pimples compared to St Andrews last week," stated Harrington. "They're excellent, fine, although they probably should be a bit bigger for the contours they contain." For the most part, though, horror stories were the norm. Like Roe Park's Seamus Duffy suffering a nightmarish start, a seven-over-par 11 on the 10th, his first, and a smattering of eights and nines into the bargain. In fact, just 53 of the 102 starters managed to break 80, and the gathering of the touring professionals towards the top of the leaderboard, with just a few club professionals remaining unscathed, bears testimony to the toughness of the course.

As such, McGinley, the defending champion, could take considerable satisfaction in keeping a bogey off his card. The Dubliner took just 32 putts, hit 16 greens in regulation and, when he did miss a green, he managed to get up and down for par saves. Equally importantly, McGinley's driving was very good and he didn't miss a fairway all day which put him into a better position than most to find the desired area of the green.

McGinley had two birdies, at the ninth, where he hit an eight-iron approach in to 15 feet, and at the 12th, where he was pin high in a greenside bunker in two and played out to 12 inches for a tap-in birdie. Harrington's round was more adventurous. He had four birdies - finding the antidote for the undulating greens by pitching dead on three occasions - at the fourth, seventh, ninth and 12th -, while incurring bogeys at the 3rd and 15th.

When it comes to players with a keen eye for this title, few surpass Smyth and, starting at the 10th, he managed to keep a bogey off his card until he reached the par four eighth where he failed to reach the green in two, and then didn't get up and down. He wasn't alone, however, and Francis Howley - who finished with a 73 - was the lone player in the field to birdie the hole.

Richard Coughlan shot a second round 70 in the Las Vegas Invitational tournament yesterday to lie just five shots adrift of joint leaders David Ogrin and Bob May who are on 11 under par. Coughlan, who shot an opening 68 on Wednesday, could have been a couple of strokes better but for a double bogey six on the 17th. The Las Vegas tournament takes place over five rounds at three different venues. Coughlan will be hoping for a top 15 finish to offer dwindling hopes of retaining his US Tour card.