Stuart Grehan continued his solid mid-season form as he carded an opening -4 (68) at the Lancer Scott Championship on the EuroPro Tour.
Dropping just one shot today, Grehan sits in a tie for 11th after day one just four shots off the first round leader.
With just five events left in the season Grehan sits in 33rd spot in the overall order of merit and will be hoping for a big push to climb the rankings before the season grand final in Lough Erne.
Of the 10 Irish that teed it up this week only two broke Par today as JR Galbraith carded a -1 (71) to sit back in a tie for 50th. Unless the other eight Irish players can produce fireworks tomorrow, there’s a strong chance they will be missing the cut after low scoring from the opening round left the cut line currently at -1, with 63 players better than par today.
This leaves Conor O’Rourke (Par), Luke Donnelly (+1), Rhys Clarke, John Hickey and Daniel Mulligan (+2), Conor Coyne (+3), Daniel Brennan (+7) and Ignatius McGuinness (+9) all with work to do.
At the top after day one Jack Davidson who was absent from the PGA EuroPro Tour last week as he was competing on the DP World Tour at Celtic Manor Resort experienced a magical morning to set the early pace.
Davidson produced a superb round of golf that consisted of eight birdies and no bogeys to post the overnight lead after round one.
Davidson is closely followed by David Hague however, who shot a round of 65 (-7) to trail the leader by a sole stroke.
He too enjoyed a blemish-free round, although failing to take advantage of the par-5 3rd was the difference between the two.
Sam Broadhurst – who started late into the day – has matched Hague’s score of 65 following a birdie on his final hole of the day.
The Englishman rapidly found himself +1 after a bogey on the 2nd, but he reeled off eight birdies to recover powerfully.
Although the top three are sitting pretty, there’s a cluster of players nipping at their heels, readying themselves for a charge on Thursday.
Nick Marsh carded a round of 66 (-6) to give himself a platform for further glory.
Dermot McElroy who sits in second in the overall order of merit is absent from this week’s tournament as he tees it up in Galgorm for the ISPS Handa could be surpassed by this week’s victor.
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