Mark Power leads the Irish charge after the opening day of the World Amateur Team Championships – Eisenhower Trophy.
Power of Kilkenny shot a three-under 69 at Golf de Saint Nom la Breteche to lie in 12th place in France, with a second round on the famous Le Golf National waiting for him on Thursday.
Heading into round two, Power trails Japan’s Taiga Semikawa by six shots after he opened up a three shot lead at the summit with a nine-under 63.
The Wake Forest student is only three shots adrift of a quartet in second place that includes Germany’s Jonas Baumgartner, Welshman Archie Davies, LIV amateur David Puig and Switzerland’s Cedric Gugler who has become a regular in the Irish Amateur Championship in recent years.
Power’s score was built on a strong finish where two birdies in his last three holes helped push himself up the leaderboard. Birdies on 16 and 17 rounded off what was a solid day and turned it into a good day.
The 22-year-old’s first move was in a backwards direction with a bogey on the 4th but a birdie on 7 saw him turn in 36. Back-to-back birdies on 11 and 12 kickstarted the US Amateur participant’s round before he dropped his second shot of the day on 14.
Ireland are in a share of 20th place on the team leaderboard after Power’s three-under round was paired with Matthew McClean’s round of one-over 73.
Castle’s Robert Moran was a shot further back on two-over and his score wasn’t counted.
McClean did well to post plus one after finding himself three-over after as many holes after a bogey on the first and a double on the third.
Birdies on 4, 5, 8 and a bogey on 7 followed to bring a topsy turvy front nine to an end in 37.
The back nine was steadier with bogeys on 10 and 16 cancelled out by birdies on 12 and 18.
Japan have sprinted six clear after day one on fourteen-under with Spain in second place.
Scoring HERE
Leave a comment