Caldwell delighted with round he feels was “a long time coming”

Mark McGowan at Killeen Castle

Jonathan Caldwell may not have been too happy with his opening round of 74 at the Irish Challenge at Killeen Castle, but the Clandeboye man turned on the style on day two, making five birdies and an eagle on his way to a four-under 68 that moved him from outside the cutline to inside the provisional top 20 on another blustery morning.

“I’m very pleased,” he said afterwards. “It’s been a long time coming. I’ve been struggling recently, playing good, but not managing to make any putts and struggling to score, so it was nice to get a good round under my belt and hopefully, kick on from here.”

One of the more experienced players in the 156-man field, Caldwell is well equipped to handle the gusting winds, though he downplays any advantage the conditions provide and admits that he still prefers playing in still weather and glorious sunshine.

“I don’t think they play into to my favour,” he said. “I mean, I certainly would rather it was all calm  and sunshine, instead of a little grey and blowing gusts at 30 miles an hour, but I suppose I get out of my own way and I just try and get the ball in the hole as quick and as few shots as I can, so I’m not thinking too much about swing mechanics or things like that.

“You’re just trying to battle your way through and grind it out.”

The highlight of the round came on the seventh hole where, having already countered an early bogey with three birdies, he made an eagle to move to -4 for the day.

“Yeah, that was definitely a highlight,” he recalled. “I got a good tee shot away and then was sort of in between clubs and I ended up hitting the hybrid. Got it back to the back right flag to about seven or eight feet and managed to hole that.

“It’s a hole that is gonna give away birdies and eagles with the way the wind’s blowing – it sort of helps the hole a little bit. So it’s one of the holes where you might think you’ve got a chance to get a shot back, but yeah, look, an eagle, it’s lovely.”

Two years ago at Headfort, Caldwell finished as leading Irishman and earned himself an Irish Open invite along with the Christy O’Connor Jnr Memorial Trophy, but any thoughts of repeating the feat this year remain firmly off his radar for the time being.

“No, it certainly won’t be on my mind,” he admitted. “I’m gonna try and score the best I can over the next couple of days and if it turns out that I’m the best of the Irish then great and if not, good luck to whoever gets it.”

You can come and see Jonathan and the other leading contenders for the title over the weekend by registering for free tickets at the following link.