The first round of the 2025 Hauts de France-Pas de Calais Golf Open got underway on a wet and windy Thursday as Galway’s Ronan Mullarney looks to back up his top 10 finish last week with another strong finish to retain fifth place in the Order of Merit standings going into the final two events of the campaign.
The top five OOM finishers on the Alps Tour will get an automatic promotion to the HotelPlanner Tour next season and as things stand, only 120 points separate Mullarney from Javier Calles Roman who is in sixth place.
Mullarney got off to a steady start, making par on the first seven holes before closing out the front nine with back-to-back birdies on the eighth and ninth holes.
That form seemed to disappear rather quickly as a bogey followed on the 10th before a disastrous triple bogey on the par-4 13th.
The 29-year-old couldn’t seem to shake that one off as the putts were not dropping for him, making another bogey on the par-4 16th.
Mullarney sits in a tie for 36th after round one but he will be glad that Calles Roman also struggled on day one as the Spaniard also posted a three-over round.
Italy’s Lucas Fallotico holds first place heading into round two as the 22-year-old put together a three-under-par round.
Fallotico started strong with four birdies on his opening nine holes, before adding another on the 10th hole.
Despite dropping shots on holes 11, 13, and 16, he bounced back with a birdie on the 17th hole to close out a solid round.
“Today was a tough day, both golf-wise and physically, but I’m happy with how I played and how I managed the round,” said Fallotico. “The standings are very tight, and the conditions will make victory very hard-fought for all contenders.”
Reflecting on the challenging weather, he added, “I have to say I was lucky to have played in the afternoon, as the weather conditions were better, but managing the strong wind was still difficult. However, I’m pleased with how I approached the round mentally and how I handled myself today.”
In a five-way tie for second place with a first-round score of one-under-par are Italy’s Matteo Cristoni and Davide Buchi, France’s Thomas Colombel and Augustin Holé, and Maximilien Sturdza from Switzerland.
Regarding the other Irish in the field, it was a tale of two nines for Dublin’s Hugh Foley as the 28-year-old posted an even-par round to sit in T7.
Four birdies on the front nine for Foley gave the Dubliner a chance to be amongst the leaders but a poor ending to his back nine saw any chance of that unravel.
Foley made double on the par-3 17th followed by a bogey on the final hole, undoing all the good work he had done earlier.
Michael Young sits in T54 on six-over-par as the 28-year-old only managed to make one birdie in a round that saw four bogeys and a triple.
28-year-old Marc Boucher continues to struggle for form as he heads into round two near bottom of the leaderboard at eight-over-par.
Round two is set to begin on Friday at 7:15am Irish time with Mullarney teeing off at 8:15am.
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