Cian Curley, a plus one handicapper from Newlands, defied the awful weather conditions at Royal Portrush yesterday to fire a six-birdie four-under-par 66 on The Valley links and take the outright lead from the opening qualifying round of the Magners North of Ireland Amateur Open Championship.
Curley launched a dazzling birdie barrage to go four under par after five holes. The lone par was at the short third. Birdie five came at the long 10th and a two at the 15th balanced bogey returns at the short 11th and long 13th.
On two under the card are Irish youth international Fergal Rafferty of Dungannon and The K Club's Michael Lavelle.
Rafferty picked off five birdies, but ironically, he suffered concessions at two short holes - the third and 18th.
Lavelle plundered five birdies, covering the back nine in two under par. Former North and East of Ireland champion Michael Sinclair is on target to bridge a 10-year gap since winning the North title.
Also on 69 are former champion Michael Sinclair, Andy Morris, who lost to Paddy Gribben of Warrenpoint in the 1999 final, and Ballyclare's Simon McConnell.
Defending champion Darren Crowe of Dunmurry found the going tough and had to settle for a three-over-par 73.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)