Hurley and Lenehan in form as Jennevret leads
The prestigious 72-hole strokeplay tournament, being staged in Ireland for the first time, saw benign conditions sweep over Carton’s Montgomerie course yesterday, but, of the 17-strong home contingent, only West Waterford’s Hurley and the Portmarnock-based Lenehan could take advantage.
Less than two weeks after helping Munster to senior interpro victory at Royal Co Down, Hurley shot a four-under 68 yesterday, while Lenehan was the only other Irishman under par with a two-under 70.
That leaves Hurley, a 19-year-old Paddy Harrington Scholarship student at NUI Maynooth, four shots behind first-round leader Daniel Jennevret of Sweden, who equalled Damien Mooney’s course record 64 set last August with a bogey-free round featuring six birdies and an eagle at the eighth.
Jennevret, playing his first round of golf in Ireland at the age of 22, acclimatised quickly, his eagle coming in a four-hole run to the turn that also featured three birdies and gave him a two-shot lead over England’s Garrick Porteous and Belgium’s US collegiate NCAA champion Thomas Pieters.
Hurley was energised throughout. The teenager is a weekly visitor from NUIM to Carton House and has played the courses in all weathers, so yesterday’s calm was a welcome treat reflected in his seven-birdie, three-bogey round that ended with birdies at three of the last four holes.
That closing run represented good work from Hurley, selected for next week’s Home Internationals in Scotland, having seen errant drives at 10 and 11 punished with back-to-back bogeys. Those mistakes, he said, reflected some widespread Irish apprehension about a usually tough course that wasn’t shared by less inhibited players from overseas.
“I talked myself out of it on 10 and 11 today,” Hurley said. “All the Irish guys know how tough this course can play. I was walking off the ninth and said to myself, ‘right, two tough holes coming up’ and I bogeyed both of them. We all play this course a lot and we’re used to it blowing a gale, but it was a lovely day for golf, unbelievable conditions – sunny and hardly any wind.
“My goal (at the start of the year) was to make the Home Internationals and to do well in all the tournaments I play in, which I have done bar a few bad rounds. But it’s been a successful year so far, hopefully it can get better.”
Stackstown’s Richard Bridges and Knock’s Nick Grant carded level-par 72s but the rest of the Irish were over par, notably British Amateur Champion Alan Dunbar, who could manage a six-over-par 78. The Rathmore golfer had come into the tournament as the leading Irish hope and was targeting a top-five finish that would have boost him into the top 15 of the World Amateur Golf Rankings, thereby gaining an exemption into the second round of the European Tour qualifying school this autumn.
Defending champion Manuel Trappel of Austria also fared badly with a 79 but his compatriot, Matthias Schwab, beaten by Dunbar for the Amateur title at Troon, is handily placed at five under, three off the lead.
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