Robert Moran and Ronan Mullarney shot matching one-under 71s to lie tied for 26th at the end of day one of the Alps Tour’s Red Sea Little Venice Open at Sokhna Golf Club in Suez, Egypt.
The venue is again hosting back-to-back events to start the Alps Tour season, and Mullarney, fresh off a runner-up finish in last week’s Elin Bay Open which was played on the B & C Course, looked on course for a bogey-free round on the A & B Course having carded two birdies on the front before an untimely bogey on the last.
Moran too bogeyed the final hole, but he’d traded five birdies and three bogeys in the previous 17, but both the 2023 Alps Tour Order of Merit winner and the man who finished just outside the top 10 in his maiden season as a professional are well placed just four off the lead.
Marc Boucher is one further adrift on level-par after carding four birdies and four bogeys, while Hugh Foley and John Murphy both have work to do to make the 36-hole cut after rounds of two-over that leave them tied for 81st.
The duo of Italian Jacopo Vecchi Fossa and Welshman David Boote are tied for the lead at five-under, with a further seven players in hot pursuit at -4.
“It was very, very cold today,” said Boote. “The guys at the driving range said they’ve never seen this cold here and it was a big change from last week. The wind picked up in the afternoon, but I started solidly with a few pars, then I’ve made some birdies around the turn. I struck the ball really very well with my driver, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.”
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