David Carey is on the back foot after the opening round of the first stage of PGA TOUR Q-School in Indiana.
Carey is two-over-par after an opening 74 at Champions Pointe which leaves him nine shots off the pace but a very recoverable five shots outside the cut off point with the top-21 and ties progressing to stage two.
The Dubliner is vying to keep his golfing dream alive having endured a frustrating year with his health. Carey fell ill with a virus earlier this season before being forced to miss the DP World Tour Q-School after picking up COVID-19 so competitive golf has been virtually non existent for Carey who became famous for shooting a staggering 11-under round of 57 on the Alps Tour in 2019.
Carey rose to prominence again when making the cut at the 2022 Open Championship at St Andrews but in 2023 he opted to concentrate on Monday qualifying for PGA TOUR events rather than playing in Europe.
He Monday qualified for two PGA TOUR events last year at the Valero Texas Open and the RBC Canadian Open and he has rarely been seen since.
Carey has been practicing hard on his game at home and has grown his social media following with his big hitting exploits – rocketing up to 200mph ball speed in one of his on course practice rounds on TikTok.
The Castleknock man’s big hitting yielded plenty of birdies on day one of Q-School on Tuesday as he rolled in four times but his card was blighted by mistakes including a double bogey seven on the par-5 12th where his power hitting would have seen him have no more than an iron left into the green.
Carey also carded four bogeys throughout his round.
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