Round one of the Open de Portugal was a mixed bag for the Irish contingent with only one making it into red numbers at the end of play on a blustery Royal Óbidos.
Sweden’s Niklas Lemke put down the early target of five-under for what looked would be an unbeatable number but for a late charge from Scotland’s Ryan Lumsden to pip him to the overnight lead by one. Lemke has company in second spot in the form of Brit pair David Boote and Ben Schmidt with Italy’s Aron Zemmer rounding off the top five. Play was suspended due to poor light with 15 players left to tidy up round one in the morning.
Best of the Irish was Ronan Mullarney who was the most consistent of the six around the Portuguese coastline, and this was reflected in his scoring. He started brightly with a birdie on the par-three third to follow up a pair of opening pars. Another followed on the fifth, but this was handed straight back on the subsequent hole. He parred his way to the turn at one-under and that was where he would stay. A run of 12 consecutive pars got Mullarney home and dry to top the Irish charge on day one. He sits tied for 29th.
Jonathan Caldwell’s level par round was neat and tidy, starting with three pars to settle the nerves before a dropped shot on the fourth was immediately recovered on the following hole. This was the story of Caldwell’s day as he responded quickly to dropped shots on the back nine at the 11th and par-three 15th. These were clawed back quickly on each occasion with birdies on the par-three 13th and again on his penultimate hole of the day. He is tied for 49th and with work to do on round two.
Conor O’ Rourke began his day with bogey at the 10th. He made amends on the following hole to recover before another birdie on the par-four 17th saw the 33-year-old turn one-under-par. An unfortunate run of three dropped in the middle of his back nine dropped the K Club man back over par. He would gain one more back on the par-five seventh and sits at one-over heading into Friday.
Dermot McElroy too was away from the 10th tee on Royal Óbidos, opening with a dropped shot before trading one more back and forth to turn on one over. A similar start to his back nine came with a pair of opening bogeys on the first and second holes, both par-four. His two birdies came on the 16th and on the fifth before parring his way home to finish on plus two. Much to do to see weekend action for McElroy.
Cormac Sharvin suffered on his front nine with three bogeys and a double, only tempered by a birdie on the seventh. More damage came with a run of three dropped shots around the turn before a mini fightback at the end of his day. A birdie-bogey-eagle finish to his round put some of the shine back on an otherwise difficult day for the Ardglass man.
John Murphy had a horror start going six-over through four holes. Three doubles on his front nine, with a single birdie on the fifth put the Kinsale man on the back foot straight away. He too showed grit and determination on his back nine birdieing four from six on his way home. He will feel disappointed after handing two back on his final two after such a good recovery but can take heart that, but for that run, he would have been out of sight. Five over for day one, which could have been a lot worse.
Leader, Lumsden was delighted with his round, which saw him take an aggressive approach off the tee on the heathland layout. “I played great today, played really well,” he said. “I took care of business off the tee which I think is important round this place. It’s quite soft, quite long and it was very windy today so finding fairways with as much length as you can is key,” added the Scot. “I think when you get off to a hot start it feels like you’re in control and can push a little bit. I just managed to stay really aggressive the whole way through, which I was really pleased with.”
Murphy and Mullarney are out together in the early morning with the pair away from the back nine at 7.50am. The other four are part of the afternoon swing finishing up with Sharvin, also away from the 10th at 13.40.
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