Carton House amateur Marc Boucher lies tied for 13th after day one of the DP World Tour’s First Qualifying Stage event at Donnington Grove Golf Club in Southern England, carding a two-under 70.
Boucher covered the opening nine holes in level par thanks to two birdies and two bogeys, but just the one dropped shot on the back side was accompanied by three birdies as he climbed to within two strokes of the lead at the end of day’s play.
In total, four Irish are in the field at Donnington Grove, with Simon Bryan also trying his hand at Bogogno Golf Resort near Milan.
On level-par, Jonathan Yates is the next best placed in England. Yates lay one-over after nine but battled back to shoot one-under on the back and end the day in a tie for 32nd.
Ruairi O’Connor, on +3, lies T75. The County Sligo amateur had just the three bogeys in his opening round but unfortunately wasn’t able to make any headway on the other 15 and with the 36-hole cut falling at 90-and-ties, before the field is further reduced after 54 holes, he’ll need to start getting red numbers on the card if he’s going to advance.
Rob Brazil completes the Donnington Grove quartet on +6 to lie just outside the provisional 36-hole cutline at T91. The Naas amateur, who plays alongside Yates in rounds one and two, did make three birdies but was undone by a costly nine at the par-5 10th hole.
Meanwhile, over in Italy, Simon Bryan has considerable work to do after a six-over 77 that sees him in 104th place, and with scoring considerably easier in Bogogna, he’s 13 off the lead.
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