Rookie Tom McKibbin and Cameron Raymond lead home charge at Portmarnock

Mallow's James Sugrue carded an opening one-over 72 and said he was taken aback by the appearance of the wind early

James Sugrue, from Mallow, hits his tee shot on the 7th hole during day one of the Irish Challenge Golf at Portmarnock Golf Links in Dublin. Picture: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Golf

Rookie Tom McKibbin and local professional Cameron Raymond lead the home charge at the Irish Challenge after a blustery opening round as the European Challenge Tour adjusted to seaside conditions at Portmarnock Links.

Holywood golfer McKibbin, making just his fourth start since leaving behind a stellar amateur career, shot a three-under-par 68 which means the 19-year-old will start today’s second round four shots off overnight leader Alfredo Garcia-Heredia of Spain.

He was joined on three under late in the day by Raymond, a Dubliner who plays out of nearby St Anne’s GC. Dermot McElroy is six back on the lead following his first-round 70, the Irish trio part of a 15-strong leaderboard who will start the day under par.

Garcia-Heredia’s opening 64 was not a result of calm conditions with the wind causing problems from early in the morning and McKibbin was glad just to have survived the ordeal as he looks to progress to the weekend for the first time in the paid ranks.

Having teed off on the eighth hole, he was pleased overall with how his opening round went.

“I got off to a pretty solid start, had a few birdies on the front nine and then an unfortunate double on 18, my 12th,” McKibbin said, “but had two birdies in a row to bounce back and that was really good, just to try and hang on coming in and into those wind holes.”

McKibbin said holes four, a par-five, and the par-four fifth were “brutal” playing them into the teeth of the wind coming off Dublin Bay.

“Four, I hit it in the rough so I had to lay up well far back and still had to hit 4-iron into the green and into five, I hit a 3-iron and I was still short of the green so it was very tricky,” he said. “Just had to stand up and hit a good shot.”

McKibbin said he was beginning to bear the fruits of lessons already being learned since his first start at The Tenerife Open on the European Tour at the beginning of the month.

“It really highlighted some of my weaknesses and I just went away and tried to work on those,” he said of his debut.

“Bit by bit, I’m seeing some progress, which is nice.”

Mallow golfer James Sugrue is another embarking on a professional career and the 21-year-old arrived at Portmarnock Links, next door to the scene of his 2019 Amateur Championship victory at Portmarnock GC, with a maiden top-25 finish already in the bank thanks to his tie for 22nd at the Dormy Open in Sweden last Sunday.

Sugrue carded an opening one-over 72 and said he was taken aback by the appearance of the wind early Thursday and described taking driver, driver, 9 iron at the par-five 13th.

“There’s no messing around. I played pretty well to be honest, was going along nicely, two under and on 15, hit an okay shot down there, just played the wrong (second) shot, tried to cut one into the wind and the wind took it, ended up with a horrible lie on the bank and made double.

“I should have been a few better without doing anything special. Fifteen, that was a real kick in the stomach but we’ll move on and go again tomorrow.”