Irish Amateur Open: Appearances can be deceptive, as anyone who attempted to construct a score on the Montgomerie Course at Carton House in yesterday's first round of the AIB Irish Amateur Open could testify, reports Philip Reid from Carton House
With what amounted to merely a stiff breeze rather than a wind of any real strength caressing the fescue grasses, and with the greens and fairways immaculate, conditions could hardly have been better for scoring, one would have thought.
And, yet, one player after another trudged off this inland course that has so many characteristics of links as if devoured by a monster. As Seamus McMonagle half jested after his round, he was tempted to cool off his driver and long-irons in the River Rye that runs alongside the 18th green so often had he been required to use them in attempting to combat the length of the course designed by Monty. He wasn't alone.
Of the 120 elite amateurs who teed-off yesterday, only two players - Matthew Clark, a 22-year-old Scot who took a week's holidays from his job with Lloyds TSB bank so that he could compete, and Finland's Roope Kakko - managed to beat the par of 72, and no fewer than 37 shot 80 or worse.
The two players who did manage to conquer the course did so in contrasting manners: the Finn did so by one shot; but the real wonder of the day was that Clark did so by four strokes, shooting an opening 68, to give himself a healthy three shot lead after the first round but in the knowledge that no one can count their chickens too soon on a course that possesses such a propensity to bite.
No one was more aware of the sting in the tail as Noel Fox, the defending champion. The Portmarnock player opened with a 74, yet was a tad upset that his rhythm should have been disrupted towards the end of his round when it took his group 35 minutes to play the 16th, after one member of the three-ball ahead lost a ball. Fox suffered a double-bogey seven on the 18th but, despite such a finish, remained very much in contention in a group of eight players on that mark, which also included fellow international Andy McCormick and Ulster teenager Harry Diamond.
If there were some heightened expectations placed on the young shoulders of Rory McIlroy, the 15-year-old from Holywood, then he at least showed some fortitude in eventually signing for a 78. McIlroy was five-over after five holes, but dug deep - and played some wonderful golf shots - to complete the remaining 13 holes in one-over. "It's very important for me to play in these senior championships, it is all part of learning," he said.
Indeed, the role of leading Irish player after the first round fell to Bandon's Kenny McGarry, a 19-year-old who plays off plus-two but who strangely enough has never played representative golf at either boys' or youths' level for Munster.
But there was no doubting the quality of player from the first round leader Clark, who suffered just one bogey, on the par three 17th where he was over the back of the green, in his round that also featured three birdies and an eagle.
Rather fittingly, the eagle came on the last, a par five of 513 yards where Clark hit his three-wood approach of 234 yards to four feet. As you do, he rolled in the eagle putt and could strut off the 18th green with a feeling of completing a good day's work, but knowing that the remaining 54-holes would offer him the severest test of his golfing career to date.
Carton House: First round scores
Par 72
68 - M Clark (Scotland)
71 - R Kakko (Finland)
72 - D Horsey (England), K McGarry (Bandon)
73 - R Forsythe (Ballyclare), K Crowley (Lee Valley), R Boal (Scrabo), T Blankvoort (Netherlands), H Mantyla (Finland), K Moore (Isle of Man), J Ferguson (England)
74 - B Trainor (Warrenpoint), R Svoboda (Czech Republic), D O'Brien (Laytown & Bettystown), N Fox (Portmarnock), B Wiesberger (Austria), A McCormick (Scrabo), N Grant (Clandeboye), H Diamond (Holywood)
75 - P O'Keeffe (Douglas), P Devine (The Island), T Ortner (Austria), K Bornemann (Douglas), N Edwards (Wales), J Evans (England), B McCarroll (Ballyliffin), D Morgan (Mullingar), S Moloney (Castletroy), G Mallon (North West), M Brett (Portmarnock)
76 - P Purdy (Shandon Park), N Goulding (Portmarnock), J Lyons (Galway), A O'Callaghan (Douglas), M Sinclair (Knock), S McTernan (Co Sligo), D Moran (The Island), D Keating (Dun Laoghaire), M Rowe (Athlone), M Moser (Austria), J Williams (Wales), J Mulready (Castle), G Bowden (Hermitage), C McAleavey (Banbridge), S Sansbury (England)
77 - C Montgomery (Malone), F Praegant (Austria), C Smith (Wales), E Vernon (England), P McDonald (UCD/Woodbrook), M Korhonen (Finland), J Moore (Laytown & Bettystown), D Ryan (Grange), J Evans (England), K Jaakola (Finland), M McGeady (North West), B McElhinney (North West), M Shanahan (West Waterford), A Smith (Wales)
78 - R Williams (Baltinglass), G Wright (Wales), J McKinstry (Cairndhu), D Carroll (Grange), D Crowe (Dunmurry), R McIlroy (Holywood), E McCormack (Slieve Russell), E Arthurs (Forrest Little), E Kennedy (Strabane), J Brown (England), M Campbell (Stackstown), J Morris (Mullingar), E McAnoy (Knock), R Leonard (Banbridge)
79 - A Dowling (Hermitage), C Martin (Nenagh), J Cunliffe (South Africa), R McCarthy (The Island), J McGinn (Laytown & Bettystown), S McMonagle (Dunfanaghy), R Durnin (Laytown & Bettystown), G Hall (Edenderry), E O'Sullivan (The Island), B O'Connor (UCD/Hermitage)
80 - A Morris (Belvoir Park), L Gilligan (City West), D Houlihan (K Club), J Hughes (Woodbrook), A Smith (The Island), M Collins (Sutton), J Foster (Ballyclare)
81 - J Smith (England), C Doran (Banbridge), D Finn (Mallow), G Massey (Hermitage), S Crowe (Dunmurry), F Whelan (Laytown and Bettystown), R Guilfoyle (Kilkenny)
82 - D McNamara (Connemara), M Morris (Portmarnock), M Baroche (France), M Poucher (Limerick), R Maher (Nenagh), N Gorey (Killeen), R Cannon (Balbriggan), A McKinley (Shandon Park)
83 - K Hamilton (Scotland), P Ring (England), T O'Mahony (Mallow), R Luke (England), L Owens (Royal Dublin), L Astl (Austria)
85 - P Errity (Delgany), A Ulvio (Finland), C Casidy (Portmarnock), D Morris (Limerick)
86 - B Loftus (Ennis), T Yardy (England), R O'Connor (The Island)
87 - F Flynn (Laytown & Bettystown)
89 - K McCarthy (Kinsale)
