Horror for Hoey in Sweden

Michael Hoey on the first tee at Wentworth in May’s BMW PGA. (Photo Eoin Clarke/Golffile.ie)Michael Hoey quickly debunked the myth that Ulster golfers have the Midas Touch right now when he suffered a nightmarish finish to his opening round in the Nordea Masters in Sweden.

Following major wins for three of his fellow Northern Irish colleagues in the last 13 months, the Madeira Islands Open champion is regarded by many as the man most likely to step up to the next level over the next few years.

Hoey’s career has been a real roller coaster so far and that trend continued at Bro Hof Slott Golf Club near Stockholm when he closed with a sextuple bogey 10 at the 18th and signed for an 11 over par 83, dropping 11 shots in his last six holes.

It wasn’t quite the worst round of his career in a European Tour event - as an amateur he opened with an 87 in the 1998 Murphy’s Irish Open at Druids Glen - but it was a his worst as a professional since he shot 85 in the final round of the Challenge of Ireland at Glasson in 2007.

Hoey will shrug this off as he has done so many times in the past and barring an injury, it would be foolish to bet against him breaking 70 today such is his mercurial talent.

Damien McGrane shot a level par 72 that left him inside the top 30 and just five strokes behind a trio of leaders - South Africa’s Jaco Van Zyl and the Swedish pair Alex Noren and Robert Karlsson.

The Karlsson in question is not the European Tour player and current PGA Tour regular but a 22-year old amateur namesake.