Hugh Foley’s first official start as a professional golfer got off to a good start as he carded a round of 68 at the Ein Bay Open, the season opening event on the Alps Tour.
Foley is in a share of 17th place on four-under-par and just four shots off the early lead which is shared by Giovanni Manzoni of Italy and Rocco Repetto of Spain.
“I was happy with the start, I played solidly, hit some wedges close and got off to a good start. I was happy overall because a lot of the stuff I was working on with Geoff (Loughrey) off the tee and with wedges felt more comfortable today.
“I made four or five birdies hitting nice tee shots and hitting wedges close so that was good.”
Teeing it up for the first time as a pro at Egypt’s Sokhna GC, Foley opened with a birdie, bogey, birdie start before closing out his front nine with pars.
The Royal Dublin golfer started his back nine strong with two birdies in three holes and recovered from a bogey on the 14th with a big finish as he birdied his last two holes.
Foley, 26, turned professional late last year after a decorated amateur career where he won the AIG Irish Close in 2020, the West of Ireland in 2021 and the double of the North and South of Ireland titles in 2022 (the first to do so since Darren Clarke in 1990).
But his final couple of seasons as an amateur saw his game suffer as some near misses in major events and an omission from the 2023 GB&I Walker Cup team saw him become too results based, a habit he is keen to avoid as he looks to improve his game in the pro ranks.
“Definitely excited for the year ahead as a professional I want to play as many events as I can and get as much experience as I can and try to improve as a player.”
“I have a couple of result goals that I would like to do but mainly it is to improve my game and get comfortable with some of the changes that I have made with Geoff and it feels good for now. One of those is to try and get the birdie count up and get my bounceback percentage up.
“I feel those will get my stroke average up and that’s a big stat to look at. I have a few performance goals that will hopefully end with good results and try to keep it going.”
Also on four-under-par are 2023 Alps Tour Order of Merit winner Ronan Mullarney of Galway and Castle’s Robert Moran who got his year underway in South Africa earlier this month.
Mullarney carded a bogey-free round on his return to life at this level after a season on the HotelPlanner Tour while Moran was also blemish free as he looks to go one step further this year and earn promotion to the HotelPlanner Tour in his second season a professional.
“I’m pretty happy, anytime you make no bogeys you are pretty happy. I played in the afternoon and the greens were a bit indifferent, there was a bit more breeze in the afternoon but I did well.
“It was one of those courses where there are a lot of birdie chances but they will come if I try and make golf as easy as possible. Everybody will make birdies here so it’s the ones who don’t make the silly bogeys that will do pretty decent so to not make any bogeys today is nice,” said Moran.
Meanwhile, there were slow starts for John Murphy and Marc Boucher who carded rounds of 74 and 75 respectively.
Scoring HERE
Leave a comment