With nine Irishmen in the field, the HotelPlanner Tour’s, John Ross Galbraith and Gary Hurley fared the best on day one of the Italian Challenge Open at Golf Nazionale.
Galbraith, playing on a National invite, is making his season debut on the circuit and made two birdies on each side as he turned in a bogey-free 68 to post four-under and join Hurley, who’s made an impressive start to the campaign after returning from injury.
The West Waterford man began on the 10th and parred eight of his opening nine holes, but made an eagle-two on 16. Three birdies – including one at the par-3 ninth – with one dropped shot leaves him tied for 18th after round one.
Ronan Mullarney, making just his second start of the year after earning promotion from the Alps Tour, started slowly and bogeyed two of his opening nine to turn at +2 before catching fire on the front side and birdied each of the first three and five of the nine to finish on three-under and share 29th place.
James Sugrue and Robert Moran ended the day in red figures after one-under 71s, while Liam Nolan is a shot further back on level-par and Mark Power has one more stroke to make up after shooting a 73.
It was a disappointing day for Max Kennedy and Conor Purcell, with the former shooting a five-over 77 and the latter seemingly playing for pride on day two after a 10-over 82.
At the top of the leaderboard, Jhared Hack fired an opening 62 to hold a four-stroke lead.
The American put on a flawless performance, making 10 birdies and remaining bogey-free in just his third start on the HotelPlanner Tour.
Hack earned his place in the field by finishing in a tie for second last time out at the DP World PGTI Open in India, and picked up where he left off today, despite the six-week break.
“I got off to a nice start, I think six under at the turn,” Hack said.
“I kept hitting the right spots on the greens, I hit some nice wedges, I drove it in the fairways. I just kept doing what I needed to do, and I executed it properly which was nice.
“I made a few nice putts on the back, a 20-footer and a 25-footer. It’s nice to have those, I think you need a couple of nice putts to go in in a round like this.”
Hack mixed six birdies with three pars to head out in just 30 strokes. After making the turn, the American would pick up three gains between holes 13 and 15 before birdieing the last to reach ten under for the day.
Hack has impressed on the DP World Professional Golf Tour of India this year after winning Q-School, recording a victory in the opening event of the season and registering a top ten in all of his starts. And the 36-year-old, who originates from Las Vegas, is hoping his fine form can keep him on the Road to Mallorca.
“I told my caddy on the second green that someone would shoot low today and he said why not me,” he added.
“I’m going to look at this as a journey so I’m just going to go out tomorrow and try and do the same stuff I’ve been doing, try to keep present, keep my process and routine.
“It’s definitely nice to have a start like this. Hopefully I get to talk to you guys more this week.”
Portugal’s Pedro Figueiredo, Austrian Matthias Schwab, Spaniard Javier Roman Calles, Frenchman Pierre Pineau and Flavio Michetti from Italy sit in a tie for second at six under par. A group of eleven players sit a shot further back, including English trio Barclay Brown, Charlie Thornton and Alfie Plant.
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