Rory McIlroy's bid to become the latest Irish golfer to enter the winner's circle got off to an impressive start at Adare Manor today as the Co Down teenager is the leading Irishman - four off the lead - after first round of the Irish Open.
The 19-year-old signed for an opening two-under par 70 at the difficult Adare Manor layout and finds himself four behind joint leaders, Richard Green from Australia and India's Jeev Milkha Singh, who both shot opening 66s.
Having started on the 10th the Holywood teenager carded four birdies and two bogeys and went very close to a hole-in-one at the fourth, his 13th.
McIlroy had taken a fortnight off before this week's event and plans to up the ante by playing eight of the next ten weeks. After his well-earned break the teenager feels his game is in good enough shape to contend in Limerick this week.
"If I can play like that for the next three days, I won't be far off," said McIlroy, who has short term and long term goals.
Still without a top-10 finish in his first full season in the paid ranks, McIlroy has set himself the goal of breaking into the top-60 on the European Tour Order of Merit to be eligible for the season-ending Volvo Masters.
His immediate goal this week is to emulate the winning ways of his compatriots, Graeme McDowell (Ballentine's Championship), Damien McGrane (China Open), Darren Clarke (BMW Asian Open) and Peter Lawrie (Spanish Open).
Lawrie was next best of the 21-strong Irish contingent after signing for a one-under 71. Just as he finished with a flourish in Spain several weeks ago, the Dubliner, once more, carded four birdies in the last six holes to correct an otherwise untidy round.
Defending champion and tournament favourite Pádraig Harrington was content, if not overjoyed, with his opening round in level par. The British Open champion book-ended his round with two bogeys and a birdie in the opening four holes, then reversed the combination with two birdies and a bogey in the final three holes.
"I'm not out of the tournament, there is still a long way to go," said the Dubliner, who had his arm strapped because of some trouble with tennis elbow. "I've just been struggling to get on top of it, but it's not affecting my golf whatsoever.
"I made a few mental errors and seemed to drift away a bit. I suppose 72 doesn't look that good when you see six-under, but that won't have played me out (of contention) at this stage.
"But it was probably the easiest day you'll ever get on this course in terms of weather and so there was an opportunity out there.
"I just have to play my best golf over the next three days," added the world number 12, who is joined on level par by Clarke and Athlone's Colm Moriarty.
Clarke's playing partner Paul McGinley had to settle for opening 73 as he, like Clarke, had too many mistakes which curtailed any momentum the pair threatened to build.
McDowell, Gary Murphy and Michael Hoey are a shot further back on two-over. Hoey received a sponsor's invite into the tournament by virtue of his recent Moroccan Open win on the Challenge Tour. McGrane opened with a 76.
As for the leaders Milkha Singh escaped from a bush on the final hole to join Green at the top of the leaderboard.
"This could come out anywhere," Singh said after calling a referee to make sure he did not break any rules by the green at the 631-yard ninth. But the 36-year-old, twice a runner-up on the European Tour this season, managed to get up and down for par and a six under par 66.
Just two holes earlier Singh had been only a foot away from an albatross two on the 528-yard seventh and the tap-in eagle followed four birdies.
As for Green, apart from a bogey at the opening hole, the Australian played flawless golf to record seven birdies and no further dropped shots. The pair lead by two shots a group on four-under that includes last year's runner-up Bradley Dredge.
A year ago Harrington, Dredge and Simon Wakefield had been the only players to finish under par on the Robert Trent Jones design before Harrington won in a play-off after he and Dredge tied on five-under.
Collated first round scores from the European Tour's Irish Open at Adare Manor Hotel &Golf Resort at Adare Manor, Ireland (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
66 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Richard Green (Aus)
68 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra), Marcel Siem (Ger), Bradley Dredge, Johan Edfors (Swe)
69 Alvaro Velasco (Spa), Lee S James, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind)
70 Rory McIlroy, Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Edoardo Molinari (Ita), Peter O'Malley (Aus), Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Marcus Fraser (Aus)
71 Gary Orr, Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa), Scott Strange (Aus), Stuart Manley, Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Peter Lawrie, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Simon Khan, Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Robert Karlsson (Swe), Pedro Linhart (Spa), Carl Suneson (Spa), Richard Finch, Alastair Forsyth
72 Colm Moriarty, Shiv Kapur (Ind), Peter Baker, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Julio Zapata (Arg), John Bickerton, Darren Clarke, Oliver Fisher, Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Anthony Wall, Jamie Donaldson, Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Emanuele Canonica (Ita), Padraig Harrington
73 Mikael Lundberg (Swe), Anton Haig (Rsa), Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Luis Claverie (Spa), Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Matthew Millar (Aus), Paul Broadhurst, Magnus A Carlsson (Swe), Stephen Gallacher, Mark Foster, Paul McGinley, Barry Lane
74 Francesco Molinari (Ita), Ross Fisher, Oliver Wilson, Jean Van de Velde (Fra), Steven Jeppesen (Swe), Rafael Echenique (Arg), David Park, Steven O'Hara, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den), David Frost (Rsa), Peter Hanson (Swe), Stephen Dodd, Sam Little, Michael Hoey, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Paolo Terreni (Ita), Graeme McDowell, Alan McLean, Scott Drummond, Mark Brown (USA), Daniel Vancsik (Arg), David Drysdale, Gary Murphy, Ross McGowan
75 Christian Cevaer (Fra), Garry Houston, Leif Westerberg (Swe), James Kingston (Rsa), Peter Whiteford, Colin Montgomerie, David Howell, Pelle Edberg (Swe), Simon Wakefield, Andrew McLardy (Rsa), Sion Bebb, Damian Mooney, Benoit Teilleria (Fra), Lee Westwood, Thomas Aiken (Rsa)
76 Peter Martin (Aus), David Carter, Christian Nilsson (Swe), Damien McGrane, Jan Are Larsen (Nor), Robert Dinwiddie, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Paul Waring, Simon Dyson, Pat Murray, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), Sven Struver (Ger), Paul Lawrie, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra), Ariel Canete (Arg), Jyoti Randhawa (Ind)
77 Craig Lee, Zane Scotland, Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Benn Barham, Martin Kaymer (Ger), Peter Hedblom (Swe), Mark Staunton, Robert Rock, Gregory Havret (Fra), Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe), Ian Garbutt
78 Juan Abbate (Arg), Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Phillip Price, Carlos Rodiles (Spa), Marc Warren, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Phillip Archer, Florian Praegant (Aut), James Kamte (Rsa), Robert Giles, Philip Golding
79 Joakim Backstrom (Swe), Brendan McGovern, Sam Walker, David Dixon, Peter O'keeffe
80 Richard Bland, Leslie Walker, Glen Robinson, Kyron Sullivan, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Pablo Martin (Spa), David Higgins, Marco Soffietti (Ita)
81 Iain Pyman, Lee Slattery, David Griffiths, Peter Fowler (Aus), Michael Lavelle, Dave Horsey
83 Gareth Paddison (Nzl)
84 Martin Wiegele (Aut), Tom Whitehouse
85 Eamonn Brady
