They say all good rounds start with a bogey and that’s how it proved for Liam Nolan who overcame an opening dropped shot to fire nine birdies in a superb seven-under 64 to vault into contention at the Scottish Challenge.
Having admittedly hacked his way up the first he caught fire with a birdie on the 2nd before rolling in three in a row from the fourth as his deadly iron play left him nothing short of kick ins on the front nine.
“It is only Thursday but it definitely is nicer to play well on Thursday rather than poorly. I thought the course was in great shape, few tricky pins and a few you could get at so yeah, just really pleased,” said Nolan who is looking to make a late summer charge towards the top of the Road to Mallorca Rankings.
“I did not put one good swing all of the first hole so I had to lock in after that and just try and hit the next fairway and go from there. I hit a couple of really nice close shots and didn’t have to work too hard for the birdies once I was on the green so that was nice to settle me in.”
Nolan found the back flag at the tenth to set up another birdie before two putting the par five eleventh. He made back to back birdies on 14 and 15 before responding to a bogey on 16 with a long birdie putt on the last.
“Ten was a bonus I wasn’t supposed to be going for that pin but it flew a bit further and got back there. Took care of the par fives and the putt on the last is a bonus. I left a few of that distance just short in the middle so I told myself to hit it a bit harder and you should be good. Happy out.
“I didn’t have to hole too many long ones, two putting par fives and a few kick ins with some good approach play. I was very solid today and just try getting rid of the two bogeys and I’m really happy.”
The Galway man found the SCHLOSS Roxburghe course to his liking and feels it is the perfect test before next week’s Irish Challenge at Killeen Castle.
“The course is perfect it’s really similar to courses we have in Ireland it’s really similar to next week’s course so I do like this run of events it just feels more familiar than usual.”
There were also positive starts for Max Kennedy and Mark Power who carded three-under 68s while Gary Hurley made the turn in three-under.
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