Four days after a best-of-the-season T3 finish at the Challenge de Cadiz, Dermot McElroy continued to impress with a four-under opening round in the Swiss Challenge at Golf Sempach and the Ballymena man finds himself tied for 15th after day one, but it was England’s David Horsey who galloped into the first round lead.
Starting on the 10th, he birdied the 12th and parred the other eight of his first nine holes to make the turn at -1. He got back on the birdie trail with a ‘three’ on the first, and then made back-to-back birdies on five and six to move to -4. A disappointing bogey on the par-5 seventh followed, but he made amends by birdieing the par-3 eighth and signed off with a par for a 67.
Alex Maguire found himself on the same tally after 10 holes, making birdies on 10, 14, 16, 17 and one, with a bogey on 15, but he couldn’t finish the job off and dropped two shots over the closing seven to slip back to -2 and into a share of 38th.
One further adrift is Liam Nolan who made five birdies but carded two double bogeys and he finds himself just above the provisional cutmark at -1, while Jonathan Caldwell and Max Kennedy are the other side of the line at level-par.
Mark Power, on +3, faces an uphill task and will need a round in the mid-60s to see weekend action, but hopes are high that at least four of the six will have Saturday tee times.
At the top of the leaderboard, Horsey enjoys sole possession of the lead after an eight-under 63.
The four-time DP World Tour winner got off to a flying start, birdieing six of his first nine holes, and though he slowed down a little on the front side, two further birdies and a bogey-free card give him a one-stroke lead over Austrian, Maximilian Steinlechner.
The 40-year-old was delighted with how he took advantage of the benign conditions in Lucerne.
“I’m very pleased,” he said. “I know today is a great score, but hopefully I can build on that and have a good week.
“It’s playing very soft, there wasn’t much wind, but I still hit a lot of good shots. I started on the ninth, so on my front nine, I hit a lot of good shots close, so gave myself a lot of chances.
“You’ve still got to be in the fairway here. The rough is getting thicker. We’ve had a lot of rain the last few days and the rough is growing fast, but it is playing soft, so it is like throwing darts. I’ve just got to throw a few more.”
“I found something swing-wise over the weekend,” he added. “I missed the cut last week, but felt I played well despite shooting three over on the Friday. Then I just found something really important for my future more than anything.
“The game has been hard for a long time, but I’ve managed to piece rounds together and play a hole well here and there, but never really felt like I was playing well enough to compete, even if I was in contention.
“Hopefully I can now fine-tune what I’ve picked up on and kick on for the rest of the year.”
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