Ronan Mullarney and Robert Moran find themselves just one shot off the lead after the opening round of the Alps Tour’s Gösser Open, the oldest tournament on the Alps Tour schedule.
Mullarney, who won this event back in 2023 – a win which kickstarted his drive to top the Order of Merit and graduate to the HotelPlanner Tour (The European Challenge Tour as it was then called) – naturally has fond memories and his tournament got off to the most perfect of starts when he holed for eagle on the par-5 opener.
It was always going to be hard to keep that sort of pace up, but further birdies on the fifth, 13th, 15th and 16th and a blemish-free card saw him round in 66 for a -6 tally that’s good for a share of sixth, one shot off the five-way tie for the lead.
Moran began his opening round on the opposite side of the course and he too kept a bogey-free card, recording birdies on 12 and 13 to reach the turn at -2, then added four more on the front to draw alongside his fellow countryman.
One shot further adrift is Michael Young who also eagled his opening hole and added four birdies with a lone bogey coming on the fifth.
Hugh Foley completes the Irish interest, and the Dubliner has work to do if he’s to make the 36-hole cut after a one-under round of 71, featuring four birdies, a bogey and a double, that leaves him sharing 58th place in the 144-man field with the top 40 and ties making it through to Saturday’s final round.
The five players at the top of the leaderboard are Spaniards Javier Calles Roman and Asier Aguirre Izcue, France’s Theo Briazrd and Maxime Legros, and Italian Gianmaria Rean Trinchero.
Izcue is going for back-to-back Alps Tour wins after his success in last week’s event in Como, while Trinchero is a two-time Tour winner
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