Liam Grehan has been in scintillating form of late and there was no let up as the K Club man powered to a seven-under 65 on day one of the Clutch Pro Tour event at Slaley Hall.
Played over the Priestman Course and the Hunting Course on days one and two, the third and final round sees those who make the cut tackle the Hunting Course a second time.
Grehan began the event on the Priestman Course, and went blemish-free, carding three birdies on the front nine and four more on the back to cruise up the leaderboard and end the day in a three-way tie for the lead.
“Yeah, the driver is pretty straight,” he said after the round. “Not crazy long, but the irons were good. I hit a lot close, like I even had one three-putt there today on a par-5, so it could have been better.
“But I think I hit at least five or six inside four or five feet today, so, yeah, it set me up nicely because the greens are quite bumpy and slow and it’s so wet over here, it’s like a swamp at the minute, to be honest. But the greens aren’t spinny, so once you’re hitting on your target, it’s stopping pretty close, which is nice.”
Grehan will tackle the Hunting Course in round two, and he feels it’s the harder of the two courses and has only been able to play one half of it in practice. But he’s in a rich vein of form, having secured victories at Irish PGA Region events in Mullingar and Donegal, making it through Open Championship Regional Qualifying, and having a god run at Final Qualifying as well. But he claims there aren’t any real secrets to his recent success.
“I suppose I’m just hitting it better and it’s not really from doing swing work, it’s more from playing and seeing shots.
“It’s just taking good targets; my routines are kind of dialed in from playing so many tournament rounds this year, that it’s really just getting into the flow of it and keeping going.”
Next best of the Irish is Niall Kearney, who also played the Priestman Course on day one, tied for 17th at -3, with Stuart Grehan and Robert Brazill, who each played the Hunting Course, one further back on -2 in a tie for 28th.
Rowan Lester, at level-par, will need to shoot at least a couple under on day two if he’s to make the cut, while Conor Murtagh, (+2), Conor O’Rourke, AJ McCabe, John Ross Galbraith, Rory Williamson and Scott Montgomery (+3), and Tom Dowdall and John Hickey (+4) all need to go low to see final-round action.
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