SOUTH OF IRELAND CHAMPIONSHIP:A HEAVY early morning mist that didn't lift until after mid-day threw the South of Ireland Championship at Lahinch yesterday into disarray.
Visibility on parts of the famous links was reduced to 100 metres, leaving the organising committee with little option but to confine the second qualifying round to nine holes.
Play didn’t finish until nine o’clock at which stage the relatively little-known Greg Mungovan from Headfort was declared winner of the medal as leading qualifier, having added a nine hole 36 to Saturday’s course-record of 66.
Defending champion John Greene dropped out of the championship having taken 82 on Saturday.
The decision to change this year to two qualifying rounds with the leading 64 to advance to this morning’s opening matchplay round didn’t meet with everyone’s approval.
The traditionalists would certainly have preferred the players going head-to-head from the outset, but the outstanding scoring in Saturday’s first round justified the call: three players, Geoff Lenehan (Portmarnock), Mungovan and Ronan Burke (Castle) took full advantage of the relatively windless conditions and the magnificent state of the links to shoot course record rounds of 66, six under par.
Andrew Hogan of Newlands kept in touch with a fine 68 while the highly promising young Ulsterman Chris Selfridge also dipped under 70 by one stroke.
Eighteen others broke par on a course that has been appreciably stiffened up since the major alterations undertaken under the guidance of the respected British architect Martin Hawtree within the past decade.
Unfortunately, there were the unusually high number of 27 withdrawals from the original entry, and they included Eoin Arthurs and Paul Dunne, both members of the Irish team in the recent European Championship in Portugal.
Limerick’s Pat Murray, already a runner-up in two championships this year, looked safe after Saturday’s 71 only to give himself some nervous moments yesterday when he shot a four-over-par 40 which eventually proved just about enough to maintain his interest in the championship.
Mungovan capitalised impressively on his opening 66 by matching the par of 36 in yesterday’s nine holes to finish one ahead of Burke and Lenehan and Nicky Grant from Knock, who completed the stretch in a three-under 33.
Veteran Noel Pyne from Ennis certainly wasn’t complaining about the change from 18 to nine holes yesterday.
He is now 65 and remarkably playing in the championship for the 48th successive year. He shot a very commendable 73 on Saturday and followed up yesterday with 37 to stand two over and make it into the matchplay stages with a couple of shots to spare.
