Stuart Grehan and Paul Dunne shot matching one-under rounds of 70 to lead the five-strong Irish contingent at the Kaskáda Golf Challenge in Brno, Czech Republic.
Making just his third Challenge Tour start of 2023, Tullamore’s Grehan carded a birdie and nine pars in his opening 10 holes, before a double bogey at the second (his 11th) saw him drop the wrong side of par. He’d pick up another stroke at the fourth, before a birdie at the last saw him move back into red figures.
Dunne would match Grehan’s birdie count of three, those coming at the ninth, 10th and 15th, with bogeys at four and 17 as he’d join Grehan in the clubhouse at -1 and tied for 33rd.
Jonathan Caldwell bogeyed the last to shoot a one-over 72, whilst Cormac Sharvin and Jonathan Yates would card rounds of two-over and three-over respectively.
The quintet all played in the morning wave and enjoyed the best of the scoring conditions, and it’s no surprise that the leaders were all among the early starters. Italy’s Lorenzo Scalise fired the best opening round, navigating Kaskáda Golf Resort in 64 strokes to post -7. Italians have been very much to the fore in recent weeks with Matteo Manassero and Andrea Pavan recording victories, and Filippo Celli losing out to Englisman Sam Hutsby in a six-man playoff in Andalucía last week.
Scalise enjoys a one-stroke lead over the chasing quartet of Spain’s Virto Borja and Manuel Elvira, with Australian Connor McKinney and Niklas Regner of Austria also posting six-under 65s.
“I’m very happy,” Scalise said. “It was flawless today and hopefully I’m going to keep that up.
“The long game was on point, and on this course that’s key. I had a good week off where I worked with my coach and I feel confident that everything is in place. My putting is good, I just need to keep giving myself chances.”
The Italian has an excellent track-record at Kaskáda Golf Resort where he finished in a tie for second in 2021 before finishing tied 13th last year, and he believes patience is the key on an unforgiving course.
“The rough is brutal. It’s a lot closer to the fairway than in previous years and it’s a lot thicker, so you have to drive the ball well to give yourself chances.
“I’m hitting a lot of drivers on this course off the tee because I feel comfortable out here. It is risky to a certain point, but I’ve tested it out on this course many times and I think I’m 33 under par on this golf course for the last nine rounds.
“It’s just going to be about the mindset. Being patient is going to be key. If I can do that better than the other guys then I could have a good chance.”
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