Simon Thornton’s return to home turf at Royal County Down couldn’t have gotten off to a much better start as the Newcastle native birdied three of the opening four holes and found his name top of the leaderboard.
Unfortunately, he encountered the most difficult stretch of the golf course in arguably the toughest conditions that the players faced, but he’s satisfied with a two-over 73 that leaves him tied for 66th at the end of day one.
“I would have taken 73 at the beginning of the day,” he admitted afterwards. “Front nine is tougher than the back, as we know as locals.
“Started off lovely on the back nine to be fair. Holed a good putt on 10, and then went almost across the whole of the green on 13 which is a bit of a bonus.
“But I played okay. And a couple of bad shots on this golf course penalises you, as we all know, and as were going to find out over the week. A bad tee shot on 7 and a bad tee shot on 6, was it. That’s good night.”
Nobody in the field knows Royal County Down as well as Thornton, but by the same logic, nobody knows better how tough it can play and that par is a good score on just about every hole.
“We woke up this morning and said it doesn’t matter where the pins are and what it’s [the wind] doing,” he said. “It’s front edge of every green. That’s what it is. As soon as you go chasing up the greens, that’s when all the trouble comes into it, especially from the rough out there which is penal.
“And you can get carried away with trying to find flags, because as locals, I understand that. As the guys that come on tour when they are used to shooting 20-under-par and stuff, you know what I mean, you go chasing things a lot. You can’t go chasing things around here. It’s totally the opposite. You have to play a patient game, and hope one or two you can pick up on the way around.”
Having begun working as a starter and course ranger before going on to become an assistant pro at Royal County Down, Thornton is part of the very fabric of the course and still lives in the town while currently working as the head professional at nearby Spa Golf Club. Naturally, he received lots of support and strong local galleries followed him round all day and he loved every minute of it.
“It was great, I have to say. A lot of friends and family around, and a lot more than in ’15 to be honest now. Me sort of being away and then coming back, there’s a bit of a new story around the town. There’s lots following around, and it’s nice to hear a different sort of cheer when mine goes in than somebody else,” he said.
“It was great. Hopefully we can continue with this with decent and dry weather over the week and can get some great support out.”
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