Rafferty just two behind English raider Smith at The Island
Harley Smith (The Rayleigh) on the 10th tee during Round 1 of the Flogas Irish Men's Amateur Open Championship 2023 at The Island Golf Club. Picture: Thos Caffrey / Golffile
Dundalk’s Caolan Rafferty leads the home challenge after the opening round of the Flogas Irish Amateur Open at The Island.
The former Walker Cup player carded a three-under 69 in squally morning conditions— the wind gusted to around 20 kph while there were also two heavy showers— to sit alone in third place.
He’s two shots behind English Walker Cup panellist Harley Smith (18), whose amateur course record-equalling 67 gave him a one-shot lead over Scotland’s Ross Laird.
Castleknock’s Paul Coughlan and Carton House’s Keith Egan shot 70s in more benign late afternoon conditions to share fourth on two-under with Scotland’s Mitchell Cowie while 71s for Naas’ Robert Brazill, The Island’s Conor Murtagh, Laytown and Bettystown’s Alex Maguire and Nenagh’s David Reddan Jnr left them in a seven-way tie for seventh.
“I come to every event to try and win but I play to try and beat the golf course every time I play,” said Esssex native Smith, who birdied the 15th and 18th to turn in two-under before picking up further shots at the second, third and sixth.
He would drop his only shot of the day at the eighth but made amends with a closing birdie three.
“I don’t really worry about it as there are such good players playing in these events, you don’t know what they are going to shoot,” Smith added. “I just play to beat the golf course and see what happens.
“I was planning to shoot around par. I played the practice round yesterday and it was very tough. I went out there today and made sure that I stuck to a really good game plan of hitting it to the right side of the flag
“I nipped a couple of birdies early on the Par 5 and 18th which put me -2 at the turn and I played very solid coming in.
“The back nine is definitely harder than the front nine. Starting on the back nine and getting off to a good start definitely gave me a lot of momentum coming into the front nine and I played really well from there.”
It was a mixed day for some of the leading contenders with England’s John Gough signing for a three-over-par 75 that left him alongside the likes of Roganstown’s Sean Keeling,
North and South of Ireland winner had an even tougher day and finished with a triple bogey seven at the ninth for an opening 79.
Flogas Irish Amateur Open, The Island (Par 72)
67 H Smith (The Rayleigh)
68 R Laird (Glenbervie)
69 C Rafferty (Dundalk)
70 P Coughlan (Castleknock), M Cowie (Dumfries & County), K Egan (Carton House)
71 R Brazill (Naas) Z Chegwidden (Orsett) A Maguire (Laytown & Bettystown), T Matthews (Oswestry), C Murtagh (The Island), D Reddan (Nenagh), M Roberts (Royal Porthcawl), M Wilson (Forres)
72 A Brady (The Vines), T Ford (County Sligo), J Fox (Portmarnock), C Hickey (Dooks), J Leversidge (Abbeydale), J McDonnell (Forrest little), D Shaw-Radford (Huddersfield), E Sullivan (Portmarnock), J Whelan (Grange)
73 M Boucher (Carton House), A Edwards-Hill (Chelmsford), J Garbely (Oberkirch), G Graham (Blairgowrie), M McClean (Malone), P Mullins (Whitchurch), J Nash (Ormskirk), L Nolan (Galway), D Shiel (Enniscrone), B St John (Portmarnock)
74 J Boles (Charleville), R Cannon (Balbriggan), J Cleary (Elm Park), A Finnie (Royal Burgess), M Ford (Royal Queensland), H Gillivan (St Annes), O Hausammann (Limpachtal), J Hill (Galgorm Castle), J Hood (Galgorm Castle), P Keeling (Roganstown), J Kelso (Kings Hill), R Lindsay (Turnberry), D Lundgren (Kristianstads), P O Dochartaigh (Gweedore Golf Club), R Williamson (Holywood)
75 T Bowen (Welshpool), J Brooks (The Mere), A Buchanan (Royal Portrush), S Cave (Coxmoor), J Garnett (Five Lakes), M Gazi (Tralee), J Gough (The Berkshire), C Graham (Blairgowrie), J Hewitt (Tandragee), S Keeling (Roganstown), D Kitt (Athenry), C Mukherjee (Gullane), E Murphy (Dundalk), A Smith (Mullingar)
76 R Abernethy (Dun Laoghaire), T Abom (Edmondstown), G Ash (Hallowes), J Ashton (Kedleston Park), C Boggan (Co.Meath), C Burford (Rhuddlan), J Byrne (Baltinglass), G Callaghan (Co. Louth), Q Carew (Castleknock), A Charlton (Ramside), J Claridge (Enville), D Flynn (Carton House), N Illi (Golfclub Davos), R Knightly (Royal Dublin), T Lecomte (ASGI), J McPhail (Southport & Ainsdale), R Moran (Castle), B Ronan (Co. Louth), M Stockdale (Woburn), J Walsh (Douglas)
77 J Berry (Doncaster), C Campbell (Warrenpoint), S Cooper (Enniscorthy), G Donohoe (Enniscorthy), M Lever (Bolton), P O'Keeffe (Douglas)
78 M Berrisford (Ilkley), W Coxon (Carus Green), G Dunne (Co. Louth), C Harkin (Letterkenny), R Hynes (Royal Dublin), F Kennedy (The Island), R Latimer (Clandeboye), K LeBlanc (The Island), G Liljeberg (Vasatorps), J Lyons (Galway), S McDermott (Slieve Russell), C Mooney (Ballinasloe), G O'Neill (Malahide), S Potter (Kedleston Park), R Walsh (Douglas Golf Club), C Wilson (Castle Park)
79 L Abom (Edmondstown), A Benson (West Lothian), A Carrick (Craigielaw), H Foley (Royal Dublin), L Martin (Sandhill)
80 G Collins (Rosslare), F Dobbin (Malone), L Irvine (Kirkhill), G Lenehan (Portmarnock), M Morgenstern (Lipperswil), I O'Connell (Castleknock), L O'Connor (Edmondstown), M Steinhauser (Zürichsee), J Temple (Portmarnock)
81 M Cain (Cork), R Griffin (Rosapenna), H Hayward (Kedleston Park), J Millington (The Players), D Sweeney (Corrstown)
82 D O Riordan (Fermoy), D O'Sullivan (Tralee)
83 P Connolly (The Links Portmarnock)
84 A Foley (Edmondstown), L Hutchinson (The Royal Dublin), S McAufield (Stonebridge)
86 A Brady (Co. Sligo), D Browne (Blarney)
87 D Cleary (Tipperary)
