Former Ireland Senior Men’s Amateur champion Jody Fanagan was surprised to fire a seven-under 64 to take the first-round lead in the European Senior Men’s Championship at Douglas.

The Milltown clubman took advantage of perfect conditions early in the day as Malahide’s Alison Taylor shot a three-under 70 to lead the ladies’ event.

Scoring

Fanagan leads by two shots from Greystones’ Alan Condren with Castlemartyr’s John O'Brien and Banbridge’s Jim Carvill tied for third with Switzerland’s Eitenne Wehrli.

“It crept up on me,” Fanagan said. “I was tipping along at one or two under and then suddenly, the lads were laughing at me, I was holing everything.

“Today was a perfect day, off at 7.30 am, no wind, not too hot, the greens were lovely, lovely speed, they were fair and I took advantage.

“We were chatting last night about what kind of score you might need and it’s always very hard to gauge. Anything under par is always good but when you get a few more like that you are very very happy.

“With the seniors, it’s not like we go from one tournament to another so you want to be in contention.

“Europeans are obviously very big and it’s nice to be up there from the start. It is exciting. Having it in Ireland is great.” 

Fanagan teed off early alongside reigning champion James Crampton and it was the Dubliner who really made the most of his chances in his opening round. He was two-under through the front nine before rounding off a dream round with birdies at the 11th, 12th and 15th, followed by a superb eagle at the last.

In the Ladies’ section Taylor carded six birdies on her way to a 70, and a one-stroke lead over three-time winner Macarena Campomanes of Spain and Belgium’s Sylvie Clausset.

Taylor had three bogeys in her first seven holes but with experience playing Senior Cup for Laytown and Bettystown, she used her links knowledge to turn things around and four birdies between the 10th and 15th put her on top of the leaderboard.

“It exceeds my expectations,” said Taylor. “I just grabbed my chances wherever I could. I was playing for the centre of the greens and I got up and down when I got into a bit of trouble.  

“I thought it was playing very like a links here. I was trying to play different versions of shots than you would play for parkland normally. And I had my luck with the putts as well, took them when I could.

“I am thrilled but I am not going out until 3.10 pm tomorrow. Hanging around tomorrow is going to be difficult. I know it’s so hard to play to your handicap when you are low so I am just delighted.

“The golfing gods were with me, definitely.”