Simon Thornton got his quest for a fourth Brown and Brown Irish PGA Championship off to the perfect start as he hit the front on a blustery day at Monkstown Golf Club.
Thornton carded a four-under-par 66 to lead by the minimum from Foyle’s Brendan McCarroll while Steven Quinlan of Newlands finds himself a shot further back after a round of 68 that included a front nine of 29.
“It was okay to be honest,” said Thornton. “It’s the sort of golf course you feel you should be better I think because it’s quite short but it’s tricky in places as the scoring suggests. You can hit lovely shots and get penalised, I pulled a shot on the par five down the hill going down the hill and your’e struggling for a bogey.
“Four-under I’ll take three four-under rounds I can tell you that!”
The three-time PGA champion didn’t take long to open his birdie account at the second before cancelling out a bogey on the fifth with a birdie on the ninth to complete a steady outward half.
Thornton has emphasised patience this week and his was rewarded with a birdie on the par-3 13th and a chip in eagle on the par-5 15th to take himself to the top of the leaderboard.
“All you have to do is hit one shot out of place and you make five or six no problem. It is quite firm on the fairways and then add in the wind and the speed of the greens it’s really tricky. It’s a great test, you are hitting most of the clubs in the bag which is the sign of a good golf course but you have to miss in the right places.
“Played lovely on the back nine, hit it really nice off the tee, gave myself lots of chances but yeah the eagle was nice, hit a 6-iron from 187 just pushed it. Niall had the same chip as I did but I managed to hole mine so that was a bonus.”
McCarroll was the leader in the clubhouse after his round of 67 and after three top-10 finishes this season he is knocking on the door for a victory.
McCarroll played with Monkstown’s own Shane Irwin and he fed off the busy gallery that lined the fairways and feels the members have brought a great atmosphere to the week so far.
“You could tell they were rooting for Shane, but it’s nice to have the crowd out. It’s been a while since I’ve played in front of a crowd, it’s really nice this club seem to support any tournament that’s here.”
There are four players at one-under after rounds of 69 including Glen Robinson, Richard Kilpatrick, former South of Ireland champion Stuart Bleakley and former PGA captain Eddie Tracey.
Thornton admits he would take another pair of 66s and roll the dice on his chances of a fourth Irish PGA crown but he will need to keep the foot on the gas as big hitters lie in wait on level-par including Tim Rice, Cormac Sharvin, Colm Moriarty, Paul Eivers and Richard O’Donovan while defending champion Niall Kearney is one-over after a 71.
Scoring HERE
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