England’s Zachary Chegwidden made light work of the morning with the best score of the early starters as he moved into contention at the halfway stage of the Flogas Irish Men’s Amateur Open Championship.
After a benign Thursday afternoon the morning wave were greeted to slightly cooler conditions with a consistent breeze but for Chegwidden he cruised around the Island Golf Club in just 68 shots with one bogey and a birdie, birdie finish to share the lead with overnight leader Harley Smith at the time of writing.
The Englishman is five-under-par and he credited some great driving for his second round.
“It was a good round of golf, I played very solid and gave myself some good opportunities out there only one bogey which around the Island is a pretty good knock also to shoot birdie, birdie around here is almost unheard of to be honest. I hit six quality golf shots over the last two holes which was nice,” explained the Orsett man.
“Putted nice and drove the ball really well which is key around here and it was an enjoyable day out on the links to be honest.”
Having missed out on the 2021 Irish Amateur Championship at the European Club, Chegwidden was itching to tee it up in North Dublin this week and make his tournament debut.
“I love it, first time over here in Ireland playing golf. It’s an enjoyable experience, I was meant to play the Irish AM two years ago in the European Club and missed out on that and I love being here. I’ve had the good side of the draw with good weather this morning and yesterday afternoon, I’m enjoying the Emerald Isle!”
Chegwidden has plenty of pedigree on links golf courses and boasts a title around Royal St Georges as a former South England links champion. He was also 19th at last week’s Lytham Trophy.
“I’ve got a good feeling around links golf but we all know how it can go it can be good and bad. I’ve had some good experiences, we play plenty of links golf in the UK.”
The plan going forward is more of the same for the Essex man who will keep bashing the driver long and straight.
“It all depends on what everyone else does this afternoon and where I am on the leaderboard, depending on wind direction I’ll probably stick with the same game plan. Hit a lot of drivers out there, hitting it really well so yeah, I’ll stay aggressive but controlled aggression but it all depends where I sit on the leaderboard whether I’m in front or behind. I’ll probably just stick to what I’m doing to be honest.
“Heading home Sunday night which is a shame I would like to have a night out in Dublin to be honest! We have the Brabazon in two weeks so head home and get ready for that. Stilll a lot of golf here to be played have two days left so looking forward to that and I’m ready to get on with the challenge and see how I get on.”
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