Kilpatrick shows his calibre
Richard Kilpatrick has learnt a lot from playing practice rounds at Lake Nona with the likes of Open champion Ben Curtis and tour winners Graeme McDowell, Trevor Immelman and Maarten Lafeber.
The 25-year-old from Banbridge spent the winter working in the caddie bar at the luxurious Florida venue and as he grabbed the clubhouse lead on one over par in the AIB Irish Amateur Open at Royal Dublin he admitted that the experience has been invaluable.
The former Ulster Boys champion has taken a few dollars from his illustrious practice partners and his quality showed on another high scoring afternoon at the Dollymount Links as he carded three birdies and just two bogey in a one under par 71 to take an early one-stroke lead over the Island’s Robert McCarthy, who added a 72 to his opening 74.
“I get to play and practice as much as I want and I’ve had quite a few rounds with the boys,” Kilpatrick said. “You learn that they are not as impressive as you think they are - until you see their short games, which are amazing.”
While the conditions were benign compared to Friday’s first round, Kilpatrick’s one under par effort was one of the few sub par scores on the day when overnight leader Marek Novy from the Czech Republic followed his opening 71 with a 78, three putting twice in the last four holes.
Royal Dublin re-opened last year after a multi-million euro renovation by architect Martin Hawtree and measures 7,268 yards from the brand new championship tees.
“It’s playing fairly easy,” Kilpatrick added. “But it is also playing very long for a links and you can get some bad lies in the rough if you don’t play smart.”
AIB Irish Amateur Open, Royal Dublin
36 hole clubhouse scores (5 pm)
145 R Kilpatrick (Banbridge) 74 71
146 R McCarthy (The Island) 74 72
147 P Murray (Limerick) 75 72, J Granberg (Finland) 72 75
148 N Grant (Knock) 75 73
149 R Kellett (Scotland) 80 69, S Henry (Scotland) 76 73, Z Gould (Wales) 76 73, P Cutler (Portstewart) 75 74, R Bechu (France) 74 75, P O’Hara (Scotland) 74 75, M Novy (Czech Republic) 71 78
150 M Thistleton (England) 79 71, M Armitage (England) 78 72, A Runcie (Wales) 78 72, D Leathem (Lisburn) 77 73, M Veijalainen (Finland) 76 74, K Le Sager (France) 75 75, R Thuillier (France) 75 75, B Walton (The Island/UCD) 74 76, R Zwahlen (France) 73 77
151 S Lowry (UCD/Esker Hills) 79 72, D Morgan (Mullingar) 79 72, A Hogan (Newlands/UCD) 77 74, C Macaulay (Scotland) 76 75
152 S McEwan (Scotland) 79 73, J McGinn (Laytown & Bettystown) 77 75, N Kearney (Royal Dublin) 77 75, X Poncelet (France) 76 76, J Morris (Rosslare) 73 79
153 G Carew (Edenderry) 81 72, C Cousins (Wales) 80 73, M Gaynor (U.S.A.) 77 76
154 T Sistonen (Finland) 81 73, M Sinclair (Knock) 78 76, G O’Neill (Jersey) 78 76, R Thomas (Wales) 77 77, L Allen (England) 76 78, S McAllister (Scotland) 74 80
155 S Grant (Birr) 82 73, P O’Hanlon (Curragh) 82 73, M Barbosa (U.S.A.) 81 74, B Westgate (England) 77 78, G Cambis (France) 76 79
156 M McCoy (U.S.A.) 80 76, J Smedley (England) 79 77, G Lawlor (Citywest) 77 79
157 R Boal (Scrabo) 84 73, M O’Sullivan (Stow Acres) 81 76, S Kindsted (Finland) 80 77
158 N Catesson (France) 83 75, C Vance (England) 80 78, J Savolampi (Finland) 77 81
159 W McCully (Donaghadee) 86 73, M Salminen (Finland) 82 77, J Dale (England) 81 78, E McAnoy (Knock) 79 80
160 B Jones (England) 80 80
161 R Merchant (Wales) 89 72, A Gabella Wenne (Sweden) 85 76, B Kosmin (France) 85 76, E Saxel (England) 83 78, J Guillet (France) 79 82
162 C Mivis (Belgium) 83 79, S Archibald (England) 81 81
163 C Scotto (France) 86 77, E Mercadier (France) 81 82, R McNamara (Headfort) 78 85
166 N Kirchner (Austria) 83 83, J Haglund (Finland) 80 86
167 T Wyatt (U.S.A.) 87 80
168 R Leonard (Banbridge) 81 87
169 S O’Brien (U.S.A.) 82 87
171 C Levitte (France) 90 81, J Shufflebotham (Wales) 89 82
179 R Maunder (England) 93 86
NR R Cannon (L’town & B’town) 77 NR