For Fota’s infantry, first day reviews are universally positive

MUCH like the pacesetter from Finland, the Fota Island infantry dodged most of the first- round land-mines strewn around the Deerpark layout yesterday.

Good judges of these tally things indicated the official day one attendance of just over 16,000 seemed conservative. But once the 500 or so marshals had got their bearings, they sprinkled a refined, if relaxed, sense of control to the proceedings.

First-round leader Mikko Illonen bogeyed his first hole and the early portents for the course marshals, controlling the space invaders around Rory McIlroy, were equally inauspicious. As the Holywood star — shouldn’t we be adding an extra L now? — unleashed hell down the valley of the 10th fairway before 8am yesterday, there was a gush of bodies that left the startled marshals floundering.

Only momentarily. Once they had processed the scale of McIlroy’s allure — and their task — the marshals regained their poise. Little wonder there was a sense of empathy with the players who struggled to tame No 10.

The stardust that seeps from McIlroy these days was evident to anyone who took advantage of the pro-am environment on Wednesday. If he wasn’t being plied with a tasty Clonakilty black pudding, rasher and sausage bap, he was signing hats and posing for selfies. Ten minutes per tee-box? Yeah, about that.

It’ll get worse today. His opening round 73 endangers his weekend survival at Fota. People digesting the permutations for the halfway cut may deduce McIlroy needs something in the mid-60s to keep him in Cork thru Saturday. Patrons don’t like those odds. They’ll pile down to East Cork this afternoon for their Rory reccie.

The quality of the visitor to Fota Island isn’t restricted to those wearing the Swoosh logos and driving the fast cars in Car Park No 1. Among the 40-odd greenkeeping staff under the charge of Fota’s silent hero, Con O’Driscoll, this week are a pair of eager young representatives from the well-heeled private clubs of Wisley and Queenwood in Surrey. Establishments so grand that attempts to discover the identity of the membership who pay six-figure sums each year are foiled by the fact that the club has an ex-directory phone number.

“We don’t like to talk about the club, or who our members are, or how much,” says a spokesman. “The membership is full and we don’t want to market ourselves in any way. Our members don’t want to be in the public eye. One of the things they like about the club is privacy.”

Con O’Driscoll, from Baltimore, West Cork, adopts a similar attitude to publicity but has a rare talent that could turn a haggard into a haven. Any GAA, soccer or rugby player fortunate enough to have trod on the resort’s pitches will confirm as much.

“He’s a very understated man who has done a wonderful job preparing this course for the Irish Open,” European Tour commercial director James Finnigan told corporate guests in the resort hotel’s main ballroom on Wednesday.

The consistency in the greens — running at up to 11.5 on the stimp yesterday — were only matched by the uniform praise Tour pros had for the course condition after yesterday’s round. O’Driscoll scrum-halves such praise to his staff and volunteers from neighbouring courses. “I’ve no idea what the reaction has been, I haven’t been talking to anyone,” he muttered last night as work on round two set-up began. “But I know the greens have been good. They’re running smoothly.” Everything is — so far.