Stars eclipsed as lesser lights shine at Galgorm Castle; Sugrue and Power outstanding
Mark Power (Kilkenny) driving at the 12th tee during the Pro Only BMW Irish Golfer Shootout at The K Club (21/07/2020). Picture by Pat Cashman
Shane Lowry and Pádraig Harrington missed the cut to cast a cloud over the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open but there was a silver lining in the form of a host of unheralded home heroes at Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort.
The Open champion needed a level par 70 to make the projected cut at five-over-par but shot 72 instead to finish on seven-over, one shot worse than Ryder Cup skipper Harrington, who will also miss the cut when the second round is completed this morning.
Lowry was six-over for the tournament with nine holes to play before his hopes of making the weekend suffered a near fatal blow when he shaped up to a four-footer for birdie at the par-five 10th and three-putted for bogey on another day of cold winds and squally showers at the tight and tricky Ballymena layout.
“The tenth was an absolute killer, a huge momentum killer as well,” said Lowry, who bogeyed the 13th and birdied the short 14th but couldn’t find any more birdies coming home.
“I played nicely on the front nine, it was playing so tough out there and it was hard to see where the birdies were going to come from and then I hit it into four feet on ten and three-putted.
“That’s just the way it’s been going at the minute. I still fought to the very end. I had a bad tee shot off 13 and hit it into the water and made five there. I made a good birdie at 14 and gave myself a good few chances on the way it.”
He confessed that his unfamiliarity with the course cost him dear but while he has been away in the US since February and struggled to adapt to the crosswinds, he wasn’t making excuses after finishing at the back of the field for putting.
“It’s not great for the tournament that myself and Padraig are going home,” he said. “That’s disappointing for everyone involved but I came up here and gave it my best shot and I did what I did and that’s all I could do.
“I’ve no choice, for the next while I've got to sit at home. I'll definitely leave the clubs down for a couple of weeks. But the only option for me to see some of my friends is to play a round of golf with them so maybe that's what I'm going to have to do!
“I'm definitely taking a little break now with my family. Not that they need me now, but I've been away from them for a long time. I'm looking forward to doing all the little, simple things with them like walking Iris down to school, bringing her down to the playground. Just simple things people like doing. It's been a long stint in America and I'm looking forward to a few weeks off.
“I can stand here and make all the excuses in the world. I think being away for so long definitely didn't help my performance over the last four weeks, but that's no excuse. I'm a professional golfer, I still need to be able to go out and perform when I go play.”
Early morning frost delayed the start by 90 minutes but Mallow’s James Sugrue (level after 16 holes when play was suspended) leads the home challenge in a tie for 20th, five shots behind England’s Aaron Rai.
The 2018 Hong Kong Open winner shot a level par 70 to lead by one stroke on five-under from Robert Rock (67), overnight leader Dean Burmester of South Africa (71) and Swede Joakim Lagergren (66), who won the Northern Ireland Open Challenge at the Ballymena venue in 2014.
Rai made four birdies and four bogeys but with the top 20 covered by just five shots, he knows solid driving is the key to claiming his second European Tour win tomorrow.
“A bit of a mixed bag out there but I think it is to be expected, the course played so tough,” he said.
“I think driving it is key around here with how thick the rough is and I think for the most part I have driven it well the last few days, a lot of shots out of the fairway which can then give you a couple of chances to certain pins, and when I have had chances I have made a few putts as well. So probably a mix of driving and putting.
“It is so tightly bunched and doesn’t really take that much but probably a little bit of what has already happened this week. A few extra putts go in, also when I have been out of position, I have got up-and-down a few times, so it is just a couple of shots being saved here and there coming into the weekend.”
Carlow Golf Club’s Damien McGrane (49), a European Tour winner 12 years ago, shares 32nd place in two-over with five holes of his second round to complete alongside Clandeboye’s Jonathan Caldwell, who has eight holes to finish at 8.15 am this morning.
Glasson’s Colm Moriarty, a winner on the Challenge Tour in 2007, is the leading Irishman in the clubhouse, tied for 47th on four-over after a making five birdies in an excellent 69.
But perhaps the happiest of all the home players was 20-year-old Kilkenny amateur Mark Power, who was thinking about packing his bags when he ran up a double-bogey seven at the 10th to soar to eight over but then birdied the 14th, 15th and 17th to shoot 71 and tie for 60th on five-over with Lowry’s former caddie Dermot Byrne on his bag.
“Dermot completely relaxed me and got me to knuckle down and got me back in the zone, it was great to have someone of his experience on the bag and he has certainly been worth a few shots to me here this week,” Power said.
“I’m delighted with that finish,” added the Wake Forest University star, who was beaten in a playoff for the Brabazon Trophy, then lost in the semi-finals of last month’s Amateur Championship at Royal Birkdale before finishing second in the Connacht Stroke Play in Portumna last weekend.
“It was a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions to be honest. I had a bogey on nine and my head wasn’t in the right place hitting the tee shot on 10 and I pulled it into trouble and that lead to a double.
“When you are eight over and you have a couple of hard holes coming up, you are thinking ‘I’ll pack up the bags’. Then all of a sudden you hit a few good shots and your thoughts change and you have a chance of making the cut.
“It got me focused. I was actually rolling the putter really nicely and stuck in there and picked up a few nice birdies on the way home.
“Coming into the week, my swing has never felt as good. But it is a tricky golf course and you can just second guess yourself a small bit a times. I am just going to go out and give it a crack tomorrow.
“My expectations here were just try to make the cut, to get four rounds in at a pro event is big for me. I felt like I could contend here this week if I got off to a decent start but my game hasn’t been as sharp as I would like.
“So to make it into the weekend with my game not at 100 per cent I feel I can still shoot up the leaderboard if I get it together.”
As for his recent form, he hailed the Connacht Stroke Play as excellent preparation.
“I played lovely at the Brabazon and the Amateur and the Connacht Strokeplay was a nice prep event last week. I felt I could have easily won there with a bit of luck.“
Power and McDowell cut in Puntacana
On the PGA Tour, Seamus Power and defending champion Graeme McDowell missed the cut in the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in the Dominican Republic.
Both shot one-over 73s to finish two shots outside the mark on one-under as Hudson Swafford fired a five-under 67 to lead by two shots from Sean O’Hair, Luke List and Justin Suh on 12-under.
Clubhouse leaders, Dubai Duty Free irish Open, Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort (Par 70)
135 A Rai (Eng 65 70
136 R Rock (Eng) 69 67, D Burmester (RSA) 65 71, J Lagergren (Swe) 70 66
137 S Hend (Aus) 68 69, J Catlin (USA) 67 70, J Harding (RSA) 68 69, E Ferguson (Sco) 70 67
138 J Janewattananond (Tha) 68 70, D Law (Sco) 69 69, L Herbert (Aus) 71 67
139 S Crocker (USA) 72 67, D Huizing (Ned) 70 69
140 M Armitage (Eng) 69 71, O Farr (WAl) 70 70, N Elvira (Esp) 69 71, A Meronk (Pol) 71 69., C Sordet (Fra) 70 70, C Hill (Sco) 70 70,
141 J Luiten (Ned) 71 70, S Gallacher (Sco) 67 74, J Morrison (Eng) 72 69
142 F Zanotti (Par) 70 72, L Van Meijel (Ned) 71 71, L Bjerregaard (Den) 68 74, N Lemke (Swe) 68 74, R Karlberg (Swe) 67 75, A Arnaus (Esp) 73 69, W Nienaber (RSA) 70 72,
143 D Whitnell (Eng) 71 72, A Cañizares (Esp) 71 72, M Simonsen (Den) 68 75, J Senior (Eng) 70 73,
144 M Southgate (Eng) 74 70, G Porteous (Eng) 73 71, C Moriarty (Irl) 75 69, J Stalter (Fra) 74 70, C. Howie (Sco) 73 71, R McGowan (Eng) 73 71, M Fenasse (Fra) 72 72,
JB Hansen (Den) 72 72, S Sharma (Ind) 72 72, G Coetzee (RSA) 71 73,
145 S Brown (Eng) 71 74, M Kawamura (Jpn) 74 71, A Rozner (Fra) 73 72, A Cockerill (Can) 75 70, B Stow (Eng) 70 75, R Ramsay (Sco) 71 74, S J amieson (Sco) 69 76, R Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 73 72, M Power (Am) (Irl) 74 71, M Schmitt (Ger) 73 72, R Wattel (Fra) 74 71
Projected Cut
146 A. Chesters (Eng) 79 67, P Harrington (Irl) 71 75, J Winther (Den) 77 69, F Laporta (Ita) 73 73, K Reitan (Nor) 72 74, G Storm (Eng) 70 76, W Ashun (Chn) 76 70, D Perrier (Fra) 71 75, T Koivisto (USA) 73 73, N Colsaerts (Bel) 73 73
147 D Drysdale (Sco) 73 74, G Higgo (RSA) 68 79, J Suri (USA) 71 76, C Pigem (Esp) 74 73, E Molinari (Ita) 74 73, M Campbell (NZ) 75 72, S Lowry (Irl) 75 72
148 W Ormsby (Aus) 70 78,
149 D Horsey (Eng) 76 73, P Dunne (Irl) 75 74, C Syme (Sco) 71 78, D Howell (Eng) 72 77,
150 M Korhonen (Fin) 72 78, Z Murray (Aus) 74 76,
151 G Moynihan (Irl) 74 77, T McKibbin (Am) (Nir) 73 78, R Fox (NZ) 78 73,
152 M Warren (Sco) 74 78, D Young (Sco) 75 77, S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) 78 75,
153 M Woo Lee (Aus) 75 78,
154 R Roussel (Fra) 75 791
155 M Kinhult (Swe) 75 80, O Fisher (Eng) 78 77
156 H Porteous (RSA) 74 82, C Sharvin (NIr) 83 74
159 A Pavan (Ita) 83 76
WD S Soderberg (Swe) 74 WD.
