Indian sign: Singh on song

THERE may be green, white and gold at the top of the Irish Open presented by Discover Ireland leaderboard heading into today’s second round but it belongs to an Indian, not any one of the four Irish Major champions who drew in the big crowds in Killarney yesterday.

Jeev Milkha Singh, the former Volvo Masters champion and top-50 player who has tumbled out of the world’s top 200 following a series of shoulder and back injuries that eventually cost him four months of last season, jumped out into the lead at Killarney Golf & Fishing Club with an eight-under-par 63 yesterday afternoon.

Not exactly part of the script that ushered in a 2011 Irish Open replete with homegrown Major winners, including the current US Open champion Rory McIlroy and British Open winner Darren Clarke. Yet Singh’s round did not diminish the feelgood factor coursing through the galleries by the side of Lough Leane as 18,303 spectators poured through the gates, representing an improvement on the 17,812 on the corresponding day 12 months ago at the same course.

Title sponsors may depart on a boardroom vote but nothing ensures successful golf tournaments in this country like a healthy dose of success on the course and with the weather set fair according to the forecasters, this event looks set to be another Kerry cracker.

Singh holds a two-shot lead from Frenchman Alexandre Kaleka, the two forming an unlikely leading duo of lesser lights from the International Sports Management stable which also numbers McIlroy, Clarke and Lee Westwood, not to mention Masters champion Charl Schwartzel.

The Indian’s afternoon round had started modestly while as many of the impressive first-day crowd gathered around the afternoon marquee groups containing British Open champion Clarke and three-time Major winner Pádraig Harrington.

Coming up behind in the following group, which also contained Paul McGinley, Singh had a birdie at the par-four fourth, before the afternoon sprang to life at the par-five seventh hole, when he sent in a five-wood to 30 feet and then holed the lengthy putt.

A birdie followed at the par-four next hole and having turned for home at four under, Singh leapt out in front with three birdies in a row, adding another at the par-four 14th to stir notions of a 59 or a second-best course record of 61, set in last year’s second round by eventual champion Ross Fisher.

Neither was to be as Singh parred his way home but following on from his best finish of the year, a tie for sixth at last weekend’s Nordea Scandinavian Masters, there was plenty to be satisfied with for the 39-year-old, not least a performance on the greens described by McGinley as best the putting round he had ever seen. Singh, who had led the 2008 PGA Championship won by Harrington after 18 holes, said the putting display had been in the works since last weekend but had come together after a coaching session this week.

“I putted well last week and my coach is here, a friend of mine, and he’s helped me quite a bit with a few things, and just working on that. And that finish last week gave me a lot of confidence, too.”

Kaleka, 24, was another afternoon starter who crept onto the leaderboard unannounced as the Irish fans for the most part thronged to the Clarke and Harrington galleries as they had in the morning to McIlroy and McDowell’s.

The Frenchman lies two shots behind Singh after an opening 65, with 2003 Irish Open champion and 2005 US Open winner Michael Campbell of New Zealand in joint third overnight on five under, alongside Marcel Siem of Germany and Christian Nilsson of Sweden.

All four marquee names provided thrills and disappointments in equal measure, with Clarke’s 68, five back of Singh, the best of the bunch, McIlroy shooting a 70, McDowell a one-over 72 and Harrington closing at two over after a 73.

That made Colm Moriarty’s 67 the best Irish round of the day, the Athlone-based Dubliner tying for sixth after 18 holes with nine others including Fisher, last year’s fifth-placed Australian Richard Green and 2002 Irish Open winner Soren Hansen of Denmark.

Moriarty, a regular on the Challenge Tour, admitted he warms to the big occasion and he benefited from teeing off in the group ahead of McIlroy. “I got a bit of an overflow, with them coming to see Rory behind me,” Moriarty said.

“The crowds are huge, especially on the back nine. We’d an early start but by the ninth they were huge.

“It’s going to be manic at the weekend. It is where I want to be. If you weren’t enjoying it, there would be something wrong with you,” he added.

And while the fortunes of the ‘Big Four’ of Irish golf may have varied, all four were in agreement that the tournament they helped to survive had got off to a flying start in Killarney.

“They were brilliant,” Clarke said of the huge afternoon galleries. “To have as many people walking around today shouting and roaring with me, and with Shane [Lowry] and myself and that group and Pádraig [Harrington] and Damien [McGrane] in the group behind; it was brilliant to have so many people out.”

It will be McDowell and McIlroy’s turn today to hit the afternoon peak traffic on the other side of the ropes, not that they were ignored yesterday morning, as the reigning US Open champion attested.

“Fantastic,” McIlroy said. “It was a great atmosphere and a great buzz and I’m sure it will only get better as the week goes on. Looking forward to playing in front of them tomorrow afternoon.”