Ballybofey & Stranorlar golfer Ryan Griffin said recent experience of playing Arnold Palmer Cup at Lahinch boosted his confidence as he finished Round 1 tied for the lead in the Pierse Motors Volkswagen South of Ireland Amateur Open Championship.
There were difficult conditions along the Clare coast on Wednesday but Griffin battled hard to finish -6, only matched by Ian O’Connell (Castleknock) later in the day.
150 golfers teed it up on the links and 42 managed to shoot under par, including reigning champion Colm Campbell (Warrenpoint) who got to -2 after a solid round of 70.
Gavin O’Neill (Malahide) was the first to shoot -5 and he was later joined by Jamie Butler (Naas) and Joe O’Neill (Berehaven) but then Griffin finished off a blistering 66.
“It is kind of soft out there given all the rain that we got all summer, and it was similar for us a few weeks ago,” said Griffin.
“So, I’d say the softness has taken a lot of guys by surprise. Coming in you were expecting it, it’s a big help and it’s a bit of an advantage but the greens are rolling beautiful.
“A nasty shower came in just as we started so one, two, three, four playing tough but I managed to keep the disasters off the scorecard. And it brightened up then, it was lovely, it was just a light breeze, it wasn’t too crazy.
“Just positioned the ball around well. It’s definitely one of my favourite places to come and play golf so always nice to stick a few birdies on the scorecard.”
The 2022 champion, Hugh Foley (Royal Dublin), finished his day on +2 while 2021 winner, TJ Ford (County Sligo) who is Operations Manager at Lahinch, is right in contention on -2.
The field will be cut for the match play stages at the end of play tomorrow and O’Connell is well positioned to make the knockout stages. He came with his drive later in the afternoon, he had a pair of birdies on his front nine and four more on the way in for an ideal start to his week.
“I started steady with pars and I got in trouble on seven and held a 35-footer for par, just started rolling the putter for the rest of the round and putts were dropping,” said O’Connell.
“I never really had a low round like that in a championship.”
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