As French man Julien Quesne assumed the lead with a wonderfully crafted four-under-par 66 in the first round of the Northern Ireland Open at Galgorm Castle, 29-year-old Conor O’Rourke from Kildare led the home challenge and remained in contention with a solid 69 to lie just three shots adrift.
O’Rourke gave himself an eagle chance on the Par 5 18th with a superb approach shot to 25 feet, but the putt ran by the hole and he was left with a tap-in birdie to finish his day’s work in testing, windy conditions.
“It’s a serious test of golf. You have to knuckle down every hole [as] there are blind spots out there that just catch you . . . it was nice to grab a couple of birdies late on,” said the Naas golfer who is part of the Team Ireland programme.
JR Galbraith was in the first group off and, despite losing two balls with errant tee shots at the third and 16th, finished strongly with birdies at the 17th and 18th for a 70, while Brendan Lawlor, playing on a sponsor’s invitation, closed out with a birdie on the 18th for a 74 as he continues to showcase the skills of disability golfers.
Michael Hoey, though, endured a nightmare finish as the five-time European Tour winner – one-under on his card through 13 holes – dropped seven shots in the last five holes, including a quadruple bogey nine on the 18th.
Galgorm Castle (Par 70)
Leading scores
66 – Julien Quesne (FR).
67 – Clement Berardo (FR), Bradley Moore (ENG), Alfie Plant (ENG), Tyler Koivisto (USA).
68 – Mikael Lundberg (SWE), Enrico Di Nitto (It), Martin Ovesen (DEN), Daniel Young (SCOT), Craig Ross (SCOT), Euan Walker (SCOT), Dodge Kemmer (USA), Bjorn Hellgren (SWE), Chris Cannon (ENG), Ben Talbot (ENG).
Leading Irish scores
69 – Conor O'Rourke.
70 – JR Galbraith.
71 – David Carey, Niall Kearney, *Tom McKibbin.
