Golf:With four Irish major champions in the field, few among the thousands that flocked to Killarney this morning would have expected Colm Moriarty to be leading the home charge and Indian Jeev Milkha Singh to be holding a two-shot lead over little-known Frenchman Alexandre Kaleka.
While Rory McIlroy double-bogeyed the last after finding water, Moriarty birdied the same hole to complete a memorable round of 67 for an early clubhouse lead on four under.
That was superseded by the efforts of Sweden’s Christian Nilsson and Germany’s Marcel Siem, who both shot 66s and were later joined by New Zealand’s Michael Campbell. The trio were then shunted into a share of third after Singh carded a flawless 63 and Kaleka arrived late with six birdies on the back nine for a 65.
Singh reached the turn in 31 after birdies at four and eight and an eagle after a 30-foot putt on the 513-yard seventh. He built on that remarkably quickly by picking up shots on four of the five holes from the tenth to move into the outright lead by three.
It was six strokes better than Darren Clarke, who recovered well from hitting his first shot as Open champion into a hazard, seven better than US Open champion McIlroy, nine better than last year’s US Open winner Graeme McDowell and 10 better than three-major winner Pádraig Harrington.
Another of the Irish contingent, former Ryder Cup hero Paul McGinley, described Singh’s putting as the best he had ever seen.
“I don’t know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, but 59 did cross my mind,” said the three-time Tour winner, now outside the world’s top 200 after suffering shoulder and back injuries last season.
McIlroy was four under after 10 holes but some wayward driving cost the US Open champion on the backward half. A bogey on the 11th was compounded by a double at the last where his approach was pulled into the greenside lake.
At one-under the 22-year-old remains firmly in contention but he conceded there is work to be done on the range this afternoon, not least with the driver.
“At four under through 10 things were going along quite nicely,” he said, “but I didn’t drive it great all day and I played some scrappy golf coming in.”
The approach to the 14th was a notable exception to that — “all I was trying to do was get it in the front bunker” he commented on a 130-yard shot to within 20 feet of the flag that he had to move nearly 50 yards right to left.
“My driving caught up with me at the end. I just need to be more decisive on the tees — I was stuck in two minds.”
McIlroy was playing with defending champion Ross Fisher, who, after scrambling a par on the first from the hazard by Lough Leane, birdied the second and eighth. He picked up further shots at the 14th and 16th to join Moriarty, Richard Green and Soren Hansen on four under.
McDowell had a frustrating day and finished on one over while Clarke signed for a 69 and Harrington disappointed with a 73 to lie two over.
Clarke was treated to a warm welcome by the fans on the fairways and said of his walk up the 18th: “I felt like I was winning a tournament — it’s been very special.”
The 42-year-old is still under the weather after his post-Open celebrations last week were followed by a “self-inflicted” dose of flu, but he was not seeking any excuses.
“I didn’t come here to make up the numbers,” he added. “I hit a lot of good shots and had lots of chances, but didn’t quite have the speed of the greens.”
McDowell commented: “It was a funny day. I didn’t hit it in the fairway much and didn’t make much on the greens and then after birdies at 14 and 15 steadied the ship I was a yard in the gorse on the (par five) next and made bogey.
“It was nothing disastrous I suppose and I’m not out of it by any means.”
