Golf

Paul Dunne takes share of lead in Dominican Republic after 66

Irish golfer joined by Matt Jones and Joel Dahmen at the top of the leaderboard

Paul Dunne claimed a share of the lead after a 66 in the opening round of the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in the Dominican Republic. Photograph: Warren Little/Getty Images

Fri Mar 29 2019 - 00:28

Ireland's Paul Dunne claimed a share of the lead after the first round of the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship.

Dunne, who finished joint fifth in the Dominican Republic last year, carded eight birdies and two bogeys in an opening 66 to join Matt Jones and Joel Dahmen at the top of the leaderboard on six under par.

Despite finishing third in the ISPS Handa World Super 6 earlier this year, Dunne told the PGA Tour website: “It’s been fairly average. Things are starting to get better, I’m starting to get back in the swing of tournaments.

“It’s nice to fill the gap here with a great event and hopefully I can make the most of it. I feel comfortable here.

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“The couple of loose tee shots I normally hit in a round I can get away with here, so it plays to my strength a little bit. The breeze blowing for the week is nice, we’re used to that.”

Korea’s Sungjae Im, who is the top-ranked player in the field, is a shot off the lead after a 67.

An eagle-three on the seventh hole, his 16th, helped Séamus Power finish on level par after being four over at the turn, while Graeme McDowell struggled to a 73, a double bogey on his final hole, the ninth, undoing all his good work after three straight birdies.

Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, playing in the event for the second year in succession, is seven over par following a 79.

SCOREBOARD
(USA unless stated, par 72):

66 Joel Dahmen , Matt Jones (Aus), Paul Dunne (Irl)

67 Sungjae Im (Kor)

68 Aaron Baddeley (Aus), Sepp Straka (Aut), Sam Burns , Roberto Diaz (Mex), Brady Schnell , Jonathan Byrd

69 Rory Sabbatini (Svk), David Lingmerth (Swe), Parker McLachlin, Alex Prugh , Stephan Jaeger (Ger), Denny McCarthy, Grayson Murray , Mackenzie Hughes (Can), Jim Herman, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven), Seth Reeves , DJ Trahan

70 Rafael Campos , Carlos Ortiz (Mex), Benjamin Silverman (Can), Nate Lashley, Chris Couch, Kelly Kraft, Jim Knous, Ben Crane, Max Homa, Tyrone Van Aswegen (Rsa), Brian Davis (Eng), Chris Stroud, Matt Every, Martin Piller, Kyle Jones, Charlie Beljan, George McNeill, Brendon Todd, Sang-moon Bae (Kor), Johnson Wagner

71 Adam Schenk , Brian Stuard , Kramer Hickok, Roger Sloan (Can), Nick Hardy, Seung-su Han, Joey Garber, Hank Lebioda, David Lipsky, Curtis Luck (Aus), Brice Garnett, Wes Roach, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), John Chin, Kyoung-hoon Lee (Kor), Jonas Blixt (Swe), Harris English, Trey Mullinax, JJ Henry, Joaquin Niemann (Chi), Dylan Frittelli (Rsa), Tyler Duncan

72 Julio Santos (Dom), David Hearn (Can), Séamus Power (Irl), Julian Etulain (Arg), Thomas Detry (Bel), Corey Conners (Can), John Merrick , Ryan Vermeer, Davis Love III , Dru Love, Jose de Jesus Rodriguez (Mex), Chase Wright , Tom Hoge, Freddie Jacobson (Swe), Chip McDaniel , Cameron Tringale

73 Peter Uihlein, Derek Fathauer, Daniel Chopra (Swe), Chad Campbell , Juan Cayro Delgado (Dom), Mike Ballo Jr, Sebastian Munoz (Col), Chris Thompson, Tim Herron, Omar Uresti, Graeme McDowell (NI), John Senden (Aus), Adam Svensson (Can), Trevor Immelman (Rsa), Tommy Gainey, Brandon Harkins

74 Shawn Stefani , Hudson Swafford, Cameron Davis (Aus), Nicholas Lindheim , Alex Cejka (Ger), Hunter Mahan, DA Points , Billy Hurley III , Arjun Atwal (Ind), Dominic Bozzelli , Josh Teater

75 Eric Axley, Heath Slocum, (a) Theo Humphrey, Robert Streb, Justin Bertsch, Robert Allenby (Aus), Andres Romero (Arg), Dicky Pride

76 Hiram Silfa (Dom), Jonathan Kaye, John Rollins, Jacob Eggers , Anders Albertson , Rhadames Pena (Dom), Jason Bohn

77 Ricky Barnes , Cameron Beckman , David Duval

78 Brendon Ger Jonge (Zim), Fabian Gomez (Arg)

79 Tony Romo, Zach Zaback

81 Tom Lovelady

85 George Riley

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