With eight Irish in the field, hopes were high that there’s be strong representation on the first few pages of the leaderboard at the Challenge Tour’s Euram Bank Open and those hopes have borne early fruit as four of the eight lie inside the top 22 after day one.
Ronan Mullarney and Dermot McElroy are the foremost names on the board and sit tied for 13th at -3, with Daniel Mulligan and Robert Moran one shot behind.
Mullarney is in need of a good week after early struggles in his maiden Challenge Tour season, but he managed to navigate his way around the picturesque if leg-sapping Golf Club Adamstal course without a blemish on the card, picking up back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th – his fifth and sixth – and grabbed another on the par-5 third. And the Galway man was understandably pleased with his day’s efforts.
“I was happy enough with how I played,” he said. “A few tricky holes, a few chances. I hit the ball quite well today and wasn’t under too much pressure. It could have been a few lower, but I’m sure it could have been a few higher as well.”
Situated in the Austrian mountainside, Adamstal is one of the toughest walking courses the pros are likely to face and catching your breath is a challenge with so many hills to navigate.
“It’s beautiful, but its mad,” Mullarney laughed. “I feel a bit like a mountain goat going up and down those mountains.
“The practice round was tough work, but some incredible views. I was thinking about how I was going to play today, and I wanted to really make sure I was focused, because some of those hills are tough and you’re hitting your shot semi-out-of-breath. I made sure to be slightly slower and more methodical with what I did today.”
McElroy also started on the 10th and got off to a fast start with birdies on 12 and 13, and picked up another on the 16th to make the turn at -3. He’d move to four-under on the third, but two dropped shots on five and eight threatened to ruin his day before he finished with a birdie-three to put the flavour back in his lunch.
Playing alongside Mullarney, Mulligan got off to a slow start and three bogeys to two birdies left him at +1 making the turn. He kicked into gear on the front side, however, reeling off three birdies in a four-hole stretch from the second and he’ll be hoping the good vibes continue for the grouping on day two.
Making a rare step up from the Alps Tour, Moran’s transition into the pro ranks continues to impress. An opening birdie was followed by seven pars before he hit rocky ground on the ninth and carded a triple-bogey-seven. These would be his only dropped shots of the day, however, and one-by-one, he’d claw them back with a three-in-a-row streak from 13 through 15 and signed off with his fifth birdie of the day on the par-3 18th.
Gary Hurley was another who came undone on the ninth and carded a seven which took him back to level par after three early birdies, but he couldn’t make up the lost ground on the back and traded a single birdie with a single bogey for a level-par round that leaves him tied for 55th.
John Murphy and Conor Purcell shot rounds of one-over and will need to shoot in the red figures to see weekend action, while Royal Dublin amateur Hugh Foley had a day to forget that resulted in a five-over 75.
Portugal’s Thomas Gouveia carded eight birdies on his way to a six-under 64 that leaves him one shot clear of an eight-strong chasing pack that contains 2022 Euram Bank Open winner Marc Hammer from Germany.
A further four sit tied for ninth at -4, with Mullarney and McElroy one shot further adrift.
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