Sport

Tapie leads the way at Ballyliffin

American Alan Tapie birdied the last hole to move two shots clear at the Irish Seniors Open in association after taming the gusty…

Fri Jun 20 2008 - 01:00

American Alan Tapie birdied the last hole to move two shots clear at the Irish Seniors Open in association after taming the gusty conditions at Ballyliffin.

Tapie shot five birdies and just the one bogey on the 13th hole to card a four-under par total of 67, the joint lowest first round total on the European Seniors Tour so far this season.

The 57-year-old, who finished tied 11th in his last tournament in Jersey behind winner Tony Johnstone, said he enjoyed the testing challenge of another links course.

The evergreen 72 year old Bob Charles continued his remarkable run of shooting under his age for the fourth consecutive tournament, with a level par round of 71.

READ MORE

Sam Torrance finished with two birdies to join Charles in a group of 11 players on level par, including Des Smyth who heads the Irish challenge.

Collated Scores
Irish players in bold

67 A Tapie (USA)

69 G Cali (Ita), L Carbonetti (Arg)

70 G Brand (Eng), A Barrera (Arg)

71 B Charles (Nzl), M Piñero (Esp), D Good (Aus), J Quiros (Esp), S Torrance (Sco), C Rocca (Ita), N Job (Eng)  K Tomori (Jpn)  S Owen (Nzl)  B Longmuir (Sco)  D Smyth

72 J Bland (RSA), A Sowa (Arg),B Cameron (Eng), J Chillas (Sco), D Merriman (Aus), T Charnley (Eng), D Russell (Eng), D O'Sullivan

73 L Higgins, B Heuchan (Can), J Hoskison (Eng), D Cambridge (Jam), S Lyle (Sco), A Garrido (Esp), E Rodriguez (Esp), T Rastall (Eng), B Lincoln (RSA), A Murray (Eng), J Rhodes (Eng), T Giedeon (Ger), R Drummond (Sco), J Sallat (Fra)

74 P O'Hagan, B Larratt (Eng), H Carbonetti (Arg), A Franco (Par), K Spurgeon (Eng), E Polland, T Johnstone (Zim), T Allen (Eng), S Ginn (Aus), P Dugeny (Fra), J Rivero (Esp), E McMenamin  (am)

75 T Gale (Aus), G Encina (Chi), A Fernandez (Chi), S Ebihara (Jpn), M Poxon (Eng), C Mason (Eng), G McGimpsey  (am)

76 J Heggarty, J Hall (Eng), D Hospital (Esp), T Price (Wal), I Woosnam (Wal)

77 B Boyd (USA), M Miller (Sco), J Benda (USA), E Darcy, M Bembridge (Eng), P Leonard, P Teravainen (USA), V Smyth  (am)

78 P Oakley (USA), J Bruner (USA)

80 I Mosey (Eng), M Gray (Sco)

83 G Hopkins (USA)