Whitehead’s John-Ross Galbraith had a positive opening round at the GLAL.UK Worcestershire Masters in his bid to follow Dermot McElroy’s example and make it back-to-back Irish winners on the PGA EuroPro Tour.
The Ulster ace fired two birdies and just one bogey in a one-under 71 at Vale Golf & Country Club to sit in a share of 15th after day one, five shots off the early lead held by The Renaissance Club’s Stuart McLaren.
The Scot will be frustrated with a closing bogey but his lead is still two shots after he racked up eight birdies and two bogeys in a six-under 66, which has him a couple of strokes ahead of Welsh amateur James Ashfield and England’s David Houlding.
After McElroy’s victory at last week’s CPG Classic, Galbraith will be pleased with his start, particularly how he was able to keep the mistakes off his scorecard, and he will hope to kick on and at least pick up a first top-10 finish since last month’s IFX Payments Championship.
Tullamore’s Stuart Grehan is also in line to make the cut after a level-par 72 consisting of just one birdie and one bogey left him tied-24th after the opening day, while Dundalk’s Daniel Mulligan is right on the cut line as four birdies, three bogeys and a double led to a one-over 73.
It was a tougher day for the rest of the Irish players, though, with three bogeys and a double contributing to a birdie-free five-over 77 for Youghal’s Conor Coyne, with PGA Catalunya’s Luke Donnelly finding one birdie but also two double-bogeys and three bogeys in a 78.
Wexford’s Rhys Clarke had one birdie, seven bogeys, two double-bogeys and a triple-bogey in a brutal opening 85.
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