Liam Nolan had mixed emotions despite carding an opening two-under-par round of 70 that saw him provisionally take a place inside the top 10 at the midpoint of day one of the Irish Challenge at Killeen Castle.
The Galway man made an early double bogey, countered with three birdies in four holes around the turn, and then dropped back the wrong side of par again before closing with another trio of birdies in his final five.
“It was hard to know how to feel out there because I was playing lovely stuff, but the double bogey and the couple of other bogeys were soft dropped shots,” he explained afterwards. “But I managed to claw it back really nicely and kind of keep the foot down where I could, so yeah, I was really happy with the end result and I’ll just try and tidy a few things up for tomorrow.”
Much of the narrative leading into the week was how tough Killeen Castle would play, and even though several tees had been moved forward to counteract the strong gusts that swept across the Jack Nicklaus-designed course, Nolan feels that it’s a golf course where you can’t afford to switch off at all.
“The green complexes are very severe, you know. They’re really, really good,” he said. “So, even with some holes shortened today, you still have to be on your game and fully tuned in because there’s no easy hole out here at all.”
This is Nolan’s first professional appearance on home soil having turned pro in late 2024, and he is enjoying the home comforts and the support.
“Yeah, the family don’t usually get to many of the events abroad, so it’s nice to have family, extended family and friends following today giving that bit of encouragement, you know. When you’re playing well, you almost want to hole a putt for them as much as yourself.
“So yeah, it’s great to have the home comforts this week. It’s a long season on the road and any opportunity that you have to sleep in your own bed, you don’t take for granted. That’s for sure.”
Having begun the season with an Alps Tour card and limited HotelPlanner Tour starts, he made the most of his early opportunities and though he’s firmly in the mix to earn promotion to the DP World Tour, he’s intent on focusing on his own game and putting any thoughts of a DP World Tour card to the back of his mind.
“I’m very fortunate that Golf Ireland provided me with those invites at the start of the year and that I managed to play nicely in them.
“Pressure builds towards the end of the season, but I’m still cutting myself a bit of slack, still just trying to learn. I mean, it’s my first year out here, so if I can finish this year being a better professional golfer than I was at the beginning of the year, then that’s a successful season.
“But I’m really enjoying it and happy to have played good golf today.
“It’s very easy get caught up in Order of Merits and who’s overtaken you and who you’ve overtaken, but I just need to focus on myself, on my week-to-week tournaments and on trying to contend as much as I can.”
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