‘The finest par five in the world’ lives up to its billing
Just ask 38 year-old Belfast golfer Damian Mooney who knocked two balls into the River Maigue on the way to running up a quadruple bogey nine. However, if he thought that was bad, there was even worse to come for, having started at the 10th, he still had to tackle another tortuously difficult par five, the 625-yard 9th. He lost another two balls at this hole on the way to a ten. And having also run up double bogeys at the 8th and 11th, Mooney eventually signed for a 20 over par 92. In fairness, he took his embarrassment on the chin. “When I tried to hit it straight, it went right, and when I tried to hit it right, it went straight.”
Mooney was far from the only player to suffer grievously at the 18th. Andrew Raitt of England ran up a nine, it cost another Ulster man, Peter Martin, an eight while there were sevens for Jyoti Randhawa, Mark Foster, Leslie Walker, Graeme McDowell and Cesar Monasterio. The certainty is that there is more, lots more, of the same to follow over the next three days.
