Tom McKibbin admitted that the teenage version of him would have struggled badly at a wind lashed Doonbeg yesterday but he showed a maturity and a touch of class to thrust himself into Irish Open contention heading into round two.
Not much has happened for McKibbin this season, missing the cut in three majors, but his return to Europe has coincided with a spark of good form. The 23-year-old is supremely talented, a European Open winner at 20 and a seven shot winner at the Hong Kong Open last year.
But chiseling out a 68 in very difficult conditions combined with the patience needed to handle a six hour plus round showed the battle hardened signs that the canvas of playing on home soil could be where he ascends to the next level and takes down an all-star cast. It’s no longer about having an experience and saying how great the crowds are. McKibbin is here to win.
“Yeah, absolutely,” he said with a glint in his eye on his fifth appearance. I feel like my game’s been very steady all year and the last month or so it seems to sort of clicked a little bit, so hopefully 3 more good days and I could be right up there,” said McKibbin who showed what he can do in front of European Ryder Cup skipper Luke Donald.
The Holywood club man made an electric start with three birdies in four holes but it was the series of pressure par saves on the back nine that kept his score together and prevented the day from unravelling like it did for so many around him. With the flat stick finally behaving itself, he could be the danger man under the radar this weekend.
“I’ve started putting, putting much better, much more sort of consistent, having more better days on the greens, sort of pulling one or two more, putts from sort of mid-range, which has definitely sort of helped the, the rounds a little bit, and yeah, I feel like once that sort of kicks in, the confidence goes up a little bit, and, and that sort of leads to these good runs,” said McKibbin who enjoyed the challenge of hitting 280-yard 5-irons on one hole and 130-yarders on the next.
McKibbin begins his second round at 09:10 and he will be hopeful of walking off the golf course in under six hours this time around with the wind not looking as strong as it was on Thursday.
Round one was unable to be complete with the likes of Liam Nolan returning to play five holes and McKibbin feels the wind combined with course layout was a factor.
“I guess downwind, par 5, then a very hard into the wind hole, which probably isn’t designed for a driver and a long iron, and then the next hole’s drivable, then you’ve got a par 3 and then you’ve got a par 5, so yeah, in a different wind direction, it probably wouldn’t take that long, but yeah, obviously a lot of going for greens, going for par 5s and stuff like that.”
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