West Waterford’s Gary Hurley continued to trend in the right direction after a fine four-under par 68 to open his account at the Alps Tour’s Winter Series event at Golf Nazionale.
Arriving off the back of a tied-21st result at Terre dei Consoli, Hurley, starting from the tenth tee, moved quickly into his scoring on Monday, picking up five birdies to make the turn in 31 at the head of affairs in Roma.
Well done to @GaryHurley93 on a great start in the Winter Series Golf Nazionale, in Italy this morning. Gary opened with a (-4) 68, which now has him 2nd, 1 shot off the current leader.
Gary will tee off at 12:40 local time tomorrow for his second round. pic.twitter.com/QsGKEFsM2F— West Waterford Golf Club (@westwaterfordgc) March 21, 2022
Bogeys at the third and fifth halted momentum temporarily but Hurley wasn’t finished scoring yet, taking care of the par-5 seventh in ‘4’ to move back to four-under and within striking distance of the joint-leaders, Swiss player Mathias Eggenberger and French amateur Julien Sale at five-under in the clubhouse.
“Fortunately, it was again a good day,” said Hurley. “This morning I played nicely even if the course was a bit tricky due to the wind. This course has a lot of holes that should not be underestimated but I’ve been able to manage my feelings very well during the day and that is very important when you play a tournament of this kind.”
As for the rest of the Irish in the field, Paul McBride and Michael Young both got into the red for the day at one-under par, good enough for a share of 16th and one stroke ahead of Simon Bryan at even.
David Carey was one-over par and just outside the top-30 after a 73 with Naas ace Jonathan Yates at plus-two, Mallow’s James Sugrue struggling at plus-four and Kilkenny’s Luke Donnelly and Portmarnock’s Conor Purcell both up against it at plus-six.
- Full scoring HERE
Leave a comment