Darkness was the only thing that could put a stop to Niall Kearney on day one of the Total Splicing Solutions Donegal Pro-Am, and it eventually halted his charge with two holes to play.
By that stage, the Royal Dublin man was already at seven-under-par and needs just one more birdie in the two holes that he’ll return to play on Saturday morning to set a new course record.
Play got underway at 8am, and the final group left the course at 10 pm with six holes to play after a two-and-a-half-hour delay in the morning as thunder and lightning swept up from the south.
Besides the deluge that accompanied the inclement weather, playing conditions were near ideal, but the heavy rough and lengthy course kept a lid on the scoring for most of the field, but Kearney was the exception.
The three-time Irish PGA Championship winner didn’t get on the course until close to 5:30pm, and he was neat and tidy on the front nine, picking up birdies on each of the three par-5s to turn at three-under.
Another birdie followed on 10, and he kept the foot down to pick up three more on the 12th, 13th and 14th and opened up a two-stroke gap at the top which he maintained until the 17th tee when visibility dipped beyond playable range.
“It ended up being a gorgeous evening,” Kearney said. “This morning it looked as though we mightn’t play any golf at all today, so it’s great to be out.
“And then it’s even better when you have a score like I did for the 16 holes.
“I’ve been hitting it well recently and I’ve been bedding in a new driver, but the concentration has been a little off and I haven’t been scoring as well as I would have liked. So it’s really nice to see it finally come together like it did today.
“But I love this golf course. It’s one of my favourite Pro-Ams of the year, and we’ve the same team as last year so it’s a really relaxed vibe.”
Simon Thornton, who continues to double-job as the PGA Captain and the leading player in the Elavon Order of Merit, showed exactly why he’s the latter. He was on the first tee and ready to go when the hooter sounded, and when he finally got underway, he wasted little time in moving to the head of affairs with birdies on both of the opening two holes.
He added a third on the par-4 seventh, then picked up two more on the 10th and 14th holes to set the early target with a five-under 68.
“To be fair, every time I got myself out of position, I managed to get it up and around the green,” Thornton said afterwards. “I think I missed four greens, was in a bunker on three of those and got up and down each time, so no bogeys.
“But I generally put myself in position off the tee, which gives you a little bit of leeway. But if I can shoot another score in the red tomorrow, it means somebody has to shoot a good round today and another one tomorrow to catch me.”
Thornton’s 68 was the only sub-70 round from the morning wave, and Kilkenny veteran Jimmy Bolger was next best at three-under.
The only blemish on Bolger’s card came on the par-5 14th having made three birdies to that point, including a tasty 25-footer on the eighth, and he made up for that dropped shot with another birdie on the long par-3 16th and ended the day in sole possession of third.
Joe Dillon of Joe The Pro Golf Academy and Blackwood Golf Centre’s John McClean share fourth at two-under with Michael McGeady, who was the last man on the course and will return to complete the final six holes of his round when play resumes at 7:30 am on Saturday.
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