Caolan Rafferty’s bid to become the first player to win all four provincial amateur titles got off to the perfect start as he carded a three-under 68 to share the lead after day one of the North of Ireland Amateur Open Championship.
With East, South and West of Ireland titles under his belt, Rafferty was in the first group out at Portstewart and his score was finally matched in the second to last group by Cathal MacCanna of Carton House who birdied the 18th.
“It was good, a horrendous morning!” said Rafferty who was back to work swiftly after his round with a club fitting clinic in Portrush. Started out in the worst conditions I have played in all year. The first six holes were horrible, but then it got nice, wind died down, course was soft so it was gettable. Typical golfing moments where I holed a few putts and missed a few so it all balanced out on the greens but overall happy out.”
Rafferty of Dundalk started his round in torrential rain at 07:30am and managed to get through the first six holes relatively unscathed with a bogey on the second and five pars.
Portstewart was broken into thirds on Wednesday with the second third proving the scoring part of the golf course and Rafferty got to work with four birdies in five holes either side of the turn.
A bogey, birdie, bogey run from the 12th was brought under control with four three pars and a birdie on 16 and he was pleased to survive the conditions.
No Irish player has won all four Irish provincial championships with Raymie Burns winning all four Boys Championships while Darren Clarke won the North and South in 1990. Rafferty is embracing the opportunity to complete the set.
“Winning any of them would be nice. If I could finish this off and win the four of them that would be ideal and something I would like to do. There’s plenty of golf left, just need to keep playing the way I am playing and on Friday hopefully I can say I have done it.
“I knew it was always going to be spoken about. This year I said I would give it a lash, haven’t played Portstewart in a long time I forgot how good it was.”
Later on, MacCanna was battling a strong evening wind but also the setting sun. After roaring out of the traps with three birdies in a row from the fourth, he dropped a shot on the eighth but carded nine straight pars before rolling in a birdie putt at the last to join Rafferty.
“It was tough out there, you have to take every shot as it comes and keep your eye on the ball. I made it around. Got a good break on 17 and made a nice birdie on 18. Hit it really well off the tee, around here it’s super important. Really enjoyed the front nine, it’s just a great golf course, really enjoyable.”
MacCanna has fond memories of Senior Cup matches on this course for Cushendall during the Covid days and he doesn’t feel fazed by this newfound territory.
“I played Senior Cup for Cushendall just half an hour from here. I played my first match around here, was 2-2 coming down the stretch and brought it down the 20th and sunk a winning putt on the 2nd. It’s just a really fun course.”
Scoring proved tough overall with just eight players in red figures at the end of the day.
Athenry’s David Kitt is third on two-under while David Shiel, who was four-under, bogeyed three of his last four holes to share fourth on one-under after a 70 alongside Andrew Mulholland, Padraig O’Dochartaigh, David OMalley and Ryan Griffin who was three-over after four holes.
Scoring HERE
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