Kearney knocks off winter rust with sweet 66 in Gran Canaria
Niall Kearney
Royal Dublin’s Niall Kearney overcame a slow start to open with a four-under 66 in his first start since December in the Gran Canaria Lopesan Open.
The Dubliner (33) feared the worst when he missed a short birdie putt on the first and three-putted the second for bogey at Meloneras Golf.
But he quickly found his game and made three birdies in a row from the third and another at the eighth to turn in 31 before picking up just one more shot on the back nine.
“It’s a lovely set up and the course is in great shape,” said Kearney, who was tied for 25th, just three shots behind leaders Joachim B. Hansen of Denmark, the Netherlands’ Joost Luiten, Germany’s Max Kieffer and France’s Robin Roussell.
“it’s just good to be back out with card in hand. I played a couple of Challenge Tour events on La Gomera so I’ve been down this way before and it’s a great setting.
“But I think everybody’s probably a little bit rusty after what’s happened over the last 18 months, so it’s good to get back out. I wasn’t really sure how was the game was going to react today but it turned out it was actually quite strong and I actually left a couple of shots out there.
“I missed a short birdie putt at the first and three-putted the second for bogey and didn’t know how the day was going to go. But then I made three birdies in a row and another one before the turn. On the back nine, I missed a few short birdie putts which was a bit disappointing but overall it’s a good start.”
Ardglass’ Cormac Sharvin was two-over after three holes before rallying to fire a 67 for a share of 40th while Paul Dunne and Jonathan Caldwell were just inside the projected cut mark after two-under 68s.
Tournament host Rafa Cabrera Bello is just two shots off the lead on his idyllic home island, among a congested day one leaderboard at the inaugural Gran Canaria Lopesan Open.
In the opening event of the Challenge Tour season, Michael Hoey was left to rue a quadruple-bogey eight as he carded a one-over 73 to share 93rd in the Limpopo Championship in South Africa.
He was seven shots behind South Africa’s Daniel Van Tonder whose 66 gave him a one-shot lead as Gavin Moynihan carded a two-over 74.
As for the Gran Canaria Open, Hansen, Luiten, Roussel and Kieffer – who continued his hot streak in the Canary Islands sun after a second-place finish in Austria last week – recorded seven under par rounds of 63 to share a slender lead at Meloneras Golf by Lopesan.
Spain’s Alejandro del Rey, Scott Jamieson of Scotland and American Julian Suri are amongst a group of seven players at six under par, while Ryder Cup star and Gran Canaria native Cabrera Bello’s five-under-par round of 65 was matched by a further 12 players.
Hansen took the early lead after recording five birdies and an eagle, but the Dane’s score was quickly matched by Luiten in the next group. The Dutchman, also teeing off the tenth, lit up a rollercoaster front nine that included three birdies and two bogies with the fifth hole in one of his European Tour career on the 15th.
Germany’s Kieffer got off to a fast start, getting to five-under after six holes, with a double bogey on the eighth the only blemish on his scorecard. The trio were then joined at the top of the leaderboard by Frenchman Robin Roussel, who dropped a single shot on his opening hole in his round of 63.
Player quotes
Rafa Cabrera Bello: “I am very happy. I have been saying it all week that it is a pleasure to have the European Tour back in the Canaries and for someone that was born here, raised here, and I come as often as I can, I always tell everyone how nice it is here, so I am glad we get the opportunity to showcase it to the rest of the world.
“I am missing a big crowd but I am feeling the support. Some of the holes close to the road had people cheering which was cool, so I want to give them a big thank you for coming out even though they are not here as normal, but they were able to see a little bit of golf.”
Joachim B. Hansen: “It was perfect – just what I wanted to go out and do. A perfect start, I played well, kept the ball in play, hit a lot of greens and rolled some putts in.
“(Low scores) especially in the morning, when there’s not a lot of wind. It picked up on the last four or five holes. It’s a bit weird because it was in a different direction than in practice rounds. I played lovely today, so I look forward to the next few days.”
Joost Luiten: “(On the hole-in-one) It was a perfect number for me to hit a wedge. It’s tucked just over the bunker but you can use the slope, right to left, I pitched it on the slope with a bit of spin and it went in. It’s one of these bonus things that happens sometimes, it’s always nice to make a hole-in-one.
“This is my fifth on Tour, and my seventh overall. You can never have enough, I always say.
“Seven under is a good score. I played pretty good and gave myself quite a few chances and made some nice putts coming down the stretch. It’s a good start and we’ll see what tomorrow brings.”
Robin Roussel: “It feels good to hit good shots again, I’ve been struggling a lot since the start of the season, so it feels really good to play some good golf.
“I was just hitting very good shots and some good putts so I wasn’t too worried (after the first hole). I hit some good wedges and I knew on the course without the wind I would have a lot of wedges and I have been very good with those ranges. Mentally it didn’t change too much from the first to the last. I just tried my best to hit the best shots I could.”
Max Kieffer: "I’m just hitting the ball very good. The putting stroke is decent as well. You have a lot of chances here if you drive it well. You have lots of wedges and if you get on a good run you can make some birdies.
"Every week we play in different conditions on the European Tour. It changes a lot because we play everywhere, Middle East, Asia. Out here we are used to adapting to new greens. It’s just getting the reps in on Tuesday and Wednesday and getting the feel for the speed."
Gran Canaria Lopesan Open, Meloneras Golf by Lopesan (Par 70)
63 M Kieffer (Ger), R Roussel (Fra), J Hansen (Den), J Luiten (Ned),
64 M Ford (Eng), R Bland (Eng), W Besseling (Ned), A Del Rey (Esp), B Evans (Eng), S Jamieson (Sco), J Suri (USA),
65 O Wilson (Eng), T Olesen (Den), J Harding (RSA), G Higgo (Rsa), M Lorenzo-vera (Fra), M Schwab (Aut), J Donaldson (Wal), C Sordet (Fra), D Burmester (RSA), R Cabrera Bello (Esp), G Havret (Fra), E Pepperell (Eng), R Enoch (Wal),
66 J Senior (Eng), M Schmitt (Ger), M Antcliff (Aus), Z Lombard (Rsa), B Poke (Den), P Larrazábal (Esp), A Sandhu (Ind), A Rozner (Fra), F Laporta (Ita), L Van Meijel (Ned), D Van Driel (Ned), J Mcleod (Aus), B Virto (Esp), M Pavon (Fra), Niall Kearney (Irl),
67 S Kim (Usa), S Crocker (USA), I Cantero Gutierrez (Esp), R Langasque (Fra), T Pulkkanen (Fin), J Catlin (USA), J Winther (Den), Cormac Sharvin (Nir), A Wu (Chn), L Gagli (Ita), T Gandy (Imn), L Slattery (Eng), A Meronk (Pol), A Bjork (Swe), O Lieser (Cze), N Hojgaard (Den), A Quiros (Esp), M Jordan (Eng), S Yongcharoenchai (Tha),
68 M Schneider (Ger), O Farr (Wal), G Porteous (Eng), T Koivisto (USA), C Hill (Sco), A Johnston (Eng), R Jacquelin (Fra), J Guerrier (Fra), G Fernandez-Castaño (Esp), V Dubuisson (Fra), T Tree (Eng), P Waring (Eng), R Ramsay (Sco), Paul Dunne (Irl), H Porteous (Rsa), R Mansell (Eng), J Stalter (Fra), F Zanotti (Par), R Sciot-siegrist (Fra), M Korhonen (Fin), K Samooja (Fin), J Smith (Eng), Jonathan Caldwell (Nir), D Drysdale (Sco), G Forrest (Sco),
69 J Kaske (Fin), J Walters (Rsa), M Kawamura (Jpn), N Bertasio (Ita), J Morrison (Eng), G Bhullar (Ind), J Campillo (Esp), S Heisele (Ger), R Santos (Por), S Sharma (Ind), A Garcia-Heredia (Esp), R McEvoy (Eng), D Whitnell (Eng), O Fisher (Eng), A Arnaus (Esp), L De Jager (Rsa), S Horsfield (Eng), M Armitage (Eng), S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp), A Saddier (Fra), R Fisher (Eng), A Bautista (Aus), O Sanchez (Am) (Esp), E Molinari (Ita),
70 S Tiley (Eng), A Chesters (Eng), C Pigem (Esp), C Wood (Eng), A Otaegui (Esp), A Cañizares (Esp), G Migliozzi (Ita), J Veerman (USA), B Henson (USA), A Levy (Fra), A Sullivan (Eng), L Johnston (Sco), S Fernandez (Esp), S Del Val (Esp), D Coupland (Eng),
71 P Angles (Esp), C Suneson (Esp), A Cockerill (Can), C Syme (Sco), E Walker (Sco), D Howell (Eng), L Bjerregaard (Den), Y Chang (Kor), S Soderberg (Swe), T Sloman (Eng), K Kitayama (USA), E De La Riva (Esp), S Kjeldsen (Den), S Brown (Eng), J Gonnet (Fra), P Oriol (Esp), D Law (Sco), M Southgate (Eng),
72 B Hebert (Fra), P Figueiredo (Por), E Rousaud (Esp),
73 J Lagergren (Swe), R Mcgowan (Eng), R Karlberg (Swe),
74 P Hanson (Swe), S Chawrasia (Ind),
76 N Elvira (Esp),
78 A Pavan (Ita),
83 I Urriza Fuentes (Esp)
