Down Under thunder as Aussies rule at Baltray

REMEMBER those halcyon days when Ben Crenshaw and Hubert Green, Severiano Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam and Nick Faldo, used to enthrall us all among the sandhills and the sunshine of those famous Co Dublin dunes?

It was like old times at Portmarnock yesterday.

The Irish Open, now sponsored by Nissan, has moved up the east coast for one solitary year to the great links at Baltray and, as good fortune would have it, the weather was on its best behaviour and, if there was only the merest hint of a wind, it was still a glorious golfing day for both players and spectators.

The attendance of 12,244 was entirely satisfactory for a Thursday and, with a favourable forecast, the crowds will surely grow as we enter the week-end.

The galleries will have plenty to cheer, even if the leading Irish hopes like Darren Clarke, and Padraig Harrington, both 70, and especially Paul McGinley and Graeme McDowell, both 73, are well off the cracking pace being set by the Australian pair, Peter Lonard and left-hander Nick O'Hern. But with Peter Lawrie on five under and David Higgins only one further adrift, there is hope at the very least for some direct Irish interest through the week-end.

The Baltray links enjoyed further lavish praise from virtually the entire field with Mark Roe, the witty Englishman, coming out with the crack of the day in comparing it with the Smurfit Course at The K-Club which he disliked as soon as he set eyes on it in the build-up to the European Open. "This is a good links course, what you expect to find in the dunes by the sea," he said. "The new course at The K-Club, as soon as I got there, I couldn't see any way of playing it. I shot 80, 85 and I guess I was even more surprised to find Jurassic Park on the 7th."

Well, there are no 60-foot waterfalls at Baltray. Instead, it's a really strong, traditional links which inevitably proved vulnerable in yesterday's benign conditions. On such a day, it was a given that the scoring would be unusually good, for every links needs a wind for protection against such gifted practitioners.

Twenty-seven players broke 70, 73 finished under par. That could mean a cut of one or two under par but the weather conditions will have a say in deciding the exact mark.

Not surprisingly, the Australian contingent appeared to feel most at home with O'Hern and Lonard showing the way from a group of three that included their compatriot Brett Rumford.

O'Hern, who, at 28/1, was one of our outsiders to watch in yesterday's Irish Examiner, shot an eagle at the 6th with a drive and seven iron to 30 feet and also birdied the first three and the 5th, 13th, 14th and 16th in a round that contained a single blemish at the 12th.

"The weather was lovely, a bit warmer for a change, and I played really well," said the left-hander who recently ran up for the French Open. "It's my first time here. I walked the course on Tuesday and played yesterday. It is fantastic. I love links golf where you have to think your way round and shape your shots, lots of fades, draws, the whole bag of tricks. Hold it up in the wind and use the wind on others. I love the firmness of it. You have to land the ball ten, 15 yards short coming in and let it release on."

Peter Lonard is a tough customer, all 6 feet and 15 stone of him, and the kind of guy who looks like he would have made a formidable number seven on the rugby field in his younger days. He was 37 last week and didn't arrive here until late on Wednesday night as he had visited a consultant in London for a check up on eye deterioration having very successfully undergone laser surgery seven years ago. So, if you will excuse the expression, he played the course "blind" except for walking nine holes on Wednesday night and discussing the yardages with his caddy in the appropriately named 19th pub just outside the entrance to the club.

"If I was clever, I would have looked to see which nine I was teeing off from, but I started on the nine I hadn't seen," said Lonard. "The course is pretty much as you see it. It is going to change depending on the wind. I like the way the greens are set up. They are tiny. They have got to be the smallest greens we play all year. Have a bit of wind on those greens and it doesn't matter whether you have a wedge or a four iron in your hands, you are still going to have a tough time to avoid going off the sides. It is going to bring out every shot you have got and if you have a weakness, it will find it out."

Lonard hardly played as well as his score would suggest. He built his score over the opening nine which has a slightly flattering par of 37.

He turned in 33, bogeyed the 10th which played the most difficult hole on the course, probably because of a pretty evil first day pin position on the back right, and picked up three shots in the next four, before using an impressive short game to avoid further concessions over the closing three holes.