James Sugrue was the best of the Irish in the first round of the Open de la Mirabelle d’Or on the Alps Tour as he opened with a three-under 67 in Metz, France.
The Mallow man sits just outside the top-20 after day one as he mixed an eagle, three birdies and two bogeys in a solid performance, and he is only three shots off the early lead as the 54-hole tournament heads into the weekend.
The lead is shared by two Italians, Manfredi Manica and Luca Cianchetti, and an Austrian, Daniel Hebenstreit, as all three finished their days with six-under 64s where all three had identical cards that consisted of an eagle, five birdies and one bogey, which has the trio one shot clear of a group of nine players at five-under-par after the first day’s play.
After his round, Manicai was very pleased especially after holing out his shot from 97 metres on the 15th for an eagle. He commented: “Today I played very well, I’m very happy. My second shots helped me a lot today for the good round. “The greens were in very good conditions and the course gave a lot of birdie opportunities,” he said.
Further down the leaderboard, Jonathan Yates battled back from a double-bogey midway through his round with five birdies and a bogey to sit a shot behind Sugrue at two-under-par, while Gary Hurley will rue two bogeys at his final two holes as he recorded a one-under 69.
Simon Bryan is battling just to make the cut after seven bogeys and a double-bogey led to a four-over 74 which has him in 123rd, while Michael Young was disqualified from the event for a reason that was not disclosed by the Tour.
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