Galway man Liam Nolan carded a four-under 68 to finish best of the seven Irish competing at the final stage of Alps Tour Q-School in Italy, and he ends day one in a four-way tie for sixth.
Competing at Golf Nazionale – the tougher of the two courses being used – Nolan began on the back nine and birdied the 14th and 18th holes to make the turn at -2. After five pars on the front, he dropped a shot on six, but it would be the only bogey of his round and he responded in the best possible fashion by reeling off three consecutive birdies to record the second-lowest round of the day at Golf Nazionale and be one of only two players inside the top 10 to have started on the George and Jim Fazio-designed course.
At -2, Michael Young is next best of the Irish, but the France-based Kerryman got off to a rather rare start by birdieing the first hole at Terre dei Consoli before carding a triple-bogey-eight at the second. Many would’ve crumbled after such a crushing hole, but he knuckled down and clawed back two of the strokes on eight and nine to turn at level-par, before recording seven pars and two birdies on the back nine to move up to T22.
John Murphy found himself at one-over standing on the 18th tee at Golf Nazionale after making two bogeys and a birdie in the first 17 holes, but closed out the round in grandstand fashion with an eagle to reach the clubhouse in red figures at -1 and in a tie for 29th alongside Tom Dowdall, who earned his place via First Stage Qualifying last week. Dowdall had an up-and-down day that included six birdies, a bogey and two double bogeys at Terre dei Consoli.
Marc Boucher will be the most disappointed of the septet, having worked his way to -4 through 15 holes thanks to five birdies and a bogey, but a disastrous quad at the seventh – his 16th – dropped him back to level par where he’d stay to post one stroke better than Hugh Foley, with Brandon St. John leaving himself lots of work to do after an opening four-over 76.
Frenchman Victor Veyret co-leads alongside Polish amateur Nikolas Tyminski. Veyret shot an opening round of six-under with seven birdies and one bogey at Terre dei Consoli.
“Overall, pretty happy with today on the course. We did a good job with my caddie, mainly thanks to a good round with my wedges and putter. I like both courses we are playing this week, to be honest. They are quite different from what we are used to playing during the season, but it’s a good test of golf,” Veyret said, before adding that he plans on “staying in my own bubble and enjoy the tournament” over the next two rounds.
18-year-old Tyminski went bogey-free at the same venue, carding three birdies on each nine. “It’s a very solid start to the three-day golf marathon this week,” he said. “I played solid tee to green and, fortunately, made a few putts around the turn to rack up some birdies. I’m most satisfied today with how I was committed to my shots the entire day. Pretty much all the shots I hit today were under full commitment, which is very important for me.”
“As of right now, I don’t have any plans to turn professional, but who knows what the future holds! My main focus is to get some status for next year’s Alps Tour season and enjoy this week in Italy eating my favorite food.”
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