The Irish Golf Club Gazette: 06/20/14

6/20/2014

Meadow Opens Strong at Pinehurst

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Stephanie Meadow will start her second round of the US Women’s Open four shots off the lead after completing a weather interrupted opening round of 71 at Pinehurst No 2 in North Carolina.

The Royal Portrush golfer, making her debut in the professional ranks, resumed this morning on level par with two holes left to play but a dropped shot on the 17th saw her slip into a share of eighth place, four behind the overnight leader Stacy Lewis.

Meadow, who turned professional after the Curtis Cup earlier this week, made a flying start to life in the paid ranks and reached the turn in two under. And while three bogeys on the way home undid much of that good work, Meadow can be more than satisfied with her play at the challenging Pinehurst layout.

Lewis by one stroke after shooting 67 while 11-year-old Lucy Li shot an eight over 78 yesterday. The top-ranked women’s player in the world found three birdies on her way around and her fellow American Michelle Wie is a shot back after mixing five birdies with two bogeys.

Yet the main focus at the Pinehurst Resort was on the exploits of Li — at 11 the youngest qualifier to compete at the US Women’s Open after beating the record of Lexi Thompson, who qualified for the 2007 tournament aged 12.

The Californian amateur, who signed for birdies on the first and fifth holes but added three bogeys, two double bogeys and triple bogey to her card, trails Lewis by 11 shots.

“It was a lot of fun,” Li said of her round. “I kind of struggled today, but it was great.”

More than a dozen players failed to break 80. “I’m happy I broke 80,” Li added, “because I got two doubles and a triple and that can really ruin a score.”

“I guess I am glad that I got it over with, but I’m also excited for tomorrow.”

Asked what her plan was for the rest of the day, Li grinned and said, “Eat some more ice cream.”

GMAC's Open Eyes are Smiling

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Graeme McDowell admitted it was a pleasant surprise to be in contention for the Irish Open after moving into a share of the lead on Friday.

McDowell made his tournament debut when Fota Island last hosted the event in 2002 and finished 27th, but that was one of just six halfway cuts the former US Open Champion has made in 12 appearances.

The 34 year old has never recorded a top-ten finish, but added a 66 to his opening 68 to join England's Robert Rock in the clubhouse lead on eight under par.

"There's always a first time for everything," joked McDowell, who carded six birdies and one bogey. "Eight under is a nice total and although I don't expect it to be leading at the end of the day it doesn't have to. I am just excited to be in contention."

McDowell admitted he was feeling the effects of last week's exertions in the US Open in the first round, hitting his tee shot on the par three 17th so poorly that it came up more than 50 yards short of the green.

"I was a little sharper this morning, legs felt fresher," he added. "I missed two fairways, my iron play was better and I putted well. The Irish Open brings its own pressure, but it's the proverbial walk in the park compared to last week, which bordered on the unenjoyable. I'm more relaxed, trying to free myself up and enjoy my golf."

Starting from the tenth, McDowell began with three pars before holing from 20 feet for birdie on the par three 11th, only to promptly give the shot back on the next after failing to get up and down from a greenside bunker.

Joint second after the opening round at Pinehurst No.2 before finishing 28th, McDowell bounced back straight away with a birdie on the 15th and then made three in succession from the second.

And, after surprisingly missing from six feet on the fifth, he holed from a similar distance on the seventh to match the 66 of tournament specialist Rock, who had carded seven birdies and two bogeys.

Rock lost a play-off to Shane Lowry at County Louth in 2009, but claimed the first prize of €500,000 as Lowry was still an amateur, while he also finished fifth in 2006 and second to Paul Casey last year.

"It's a tournament I like playing, but I think it's more the time of year," Rock said. "I enjoy the tournaments at the start of the year (he held off Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy to win in Abu Dhabi in 2012) but when we travel further afield I don't play well and it batters your confidence.

"It takes time to rebuild that and it seems to be this time of year it comes back."

Defending champion Casey had been trading birdies with playing partner McDowell until bogeys on his last three holes meant he had to settle for a second consecutive 69.

Ilonen Leads On Day One at Fota

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Mikko Ilonen carded a course record 64 at Fota Island Resort to establish a two shot lead after the first round of the Irish Open.

The 35 year old from Finland made eight birdies and dropped just the one shot during his seven under par effort, which left him two clear of Germany’s Marcel Siem, former European Number One Robert Karlsson and his fellow Swede Magnus A Carlsson.

Having turned in a three under 32 Ilonen bogeyed the first – his tenth – after missing the green with a wedge in hand.

Ilonen, who won the British Amateur title in 2000 at next month's Open Championship venue Hoylake, is looking to climb into the Official World Golf Ranking's top 50 for the first time and boosted his chances with five birdies in his last seven holes.

“It was a slow start really,” said Ilonen, who lost a play-off to Sergio Garcia for the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters earlier in the year.

“The first sort of four or five holes I felt like I can't get anything going, but I stayed patient and then the birdies kept coming. In the end I managed to hit a couple of good putts which was nice.”

Siem stormed home in just 29 shots – almost holing his approach to the 14th in the process – as he carded seven birdies and two bogeys in his round of 66.

That was swiftly matched by Karlsson, who would have held second outright but for a missed five footer at the last following a sensational wedge approach.

The 44 year old has gone four years without a European Tour victory, but showed signs of return to form with a brilliant closing 63 at the recent Nordea Masters and started here with a bogey-free round.

"It was nice, I'm very, very happy," said Karlsson.

"I worked quite hard when I've been at home since the Nordea Masters, so it's been nice to keep it going.

"I've done a bit of work with my coach and things are coming together quite nicely. The long game was very, very good today."

Carlsson is targeting his first European Tour victory after two runner-up finishes, carded six birdies and a single bogey.

Three-time major winner Padraig Harrington returned a two under 69 matched by defending champion Paul Casey, who dropped two shots in his last six holes to finish one behind playing partner Graeme McDowell.

English teenager Matt Fitzpatrick, who was the leading amateur in last week's US Open, carded a one over 72 in his first tournament round as a professional.

Rory McIlroy could only manage an opening 74, despite the 25 year old having the added incentives of being able to move top of The Race to Dubai and getting back inside the top five on the Official World Golf Ranking with a good performance.

"I still drove the ball great and got in the positions that you need to, but short-sided myself a couple of times, hit a couple of loose shots with my wedges and could not get a putt to drop," said McIlroy, who had carded an approximate 62 in Wednesday's pro-am.

"I was pretty sloppy with the scoring clubs so I might head to the range this afternoon to work on those. I need to do better tomorrow to be here for the weekend."

Michael Hoey signed for a 68 and shares 9th place with McDowell and a number of others.

Peter Lawrie matched Harrington with an opening 69, along with Amateur Gavin Moynihan.

Shane Lowry, Kevin Phelan, John Kelly, Garethr Maybin and Cian McNamara all carded 71's.

David Higgins, Darren Clarke, Damien McGrane, Simon Thornton and Amateur Gary Hurley were a stroke further back.

Paul McGinley signed for a 73 and is joined in that crowded group by Brian McElhinney and Dermot McElroy AM.

With McIlroy on 74, four players two strokes behind - Mark Staunton, Gareth Shaw, Eamonn Brady and Daniel Sugrue.

Damian Mooney finished n 77 along with Ruardhri McGee.

Robbie Cannon AM ended the day on 79 strokes.

Brendan McGovern was eleven strokes over par on 88.

McIlroy Needs Good Friday

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Rory McIlroy blamed a "sloppy" short game for an opening round of 74 which left him facing a battle to avoid another early exit from the Irish Open.

McIlroy has a relatively poor record in his national championship, recording two top-10 finishes in seven appearances and missing the cut last year along with Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell.

The 25-year-old had the added incentives of being able to move top of the European Tour's Race to Dubai and getting back inside the top five on the world rankings with a good performance, but could only finish three over par in perfect conditions at Fota Island.

"I was pretty sloppy with the scoring clubs so I might head to the range this afternoon to work on those. I need to do better tomorrow to be here for the weekend."

Starting from the 10th, McIlroy hit his third shot to the 537-yard par-five over the green and had to scramble for his par, something he was unable to do on the short 11th after finding sand off the tee.

McIlroy split the fairway on the next but had to save par again after coming up short of the green with his approach, while another missed green on the 14th resulted in a second bogey of the day after a duffed chip.

A birdie on the par-five 18th took McIlroy to the turn in one over, but another bogey soon followed on the second when a misjudged approach flew well over the green.

McIlroy was lucky not to pull his tee shot into the water on the third, but failed to make the most of his good fortune before repairing some of the damage with a birdie on the par-five fifth.

After three-putting the sixth and failing to get up and down from a bunker on the seventh, McIlroy at least finished in style with a birdie on the last which prompted the two-time major winner to raise his arms in mock celebration.

"Not being able to do much on Monday and Tuesday was really frustrating, but I played well in the pro-am and had a good practice session on the range till about 8pm last night," added McIlroy, whose clubs only arrived on Wednesday morning after being mislaid in transit from the United States.

"It's tough because I feel like I have been playing well for a while and I am still getting days like this. When you are playing well you should be capitalising on that and not throwing in scores like I did today."

Playing partner Harrington fared considerably better than McIlroy, the three-time major winner also making a birdie on the last to return a two-under-par 69. But that was still five shots off the clubhouse target set by Finland's Mikko Ilonen, who carded eight birdies and one bogey to establish a new course record of 64.

England's Matt Fitzpatrick, who was the leading amateur in last week's US Open, carded a one-over 72 in his first tournament round as a professional.

Ilonen, who lost a play-off to Sergio Garcia for the Qatar Masters in January, had started on the back nine and was three under par at the turn before a bogey on the first proved to be an unlikely catalyst for five birdies in his last seven holes.

"On our 10th hole, the first hole, I made a mess out of it," said Ilonen, who enoyed a three-shot lead over England's Matthew Baldwin and Italy's Edoardo Molinari. "I hit a big drive, middle of the fairway with sand wedge and I walk off with a five.

"Luckily I didn't get too angry with it and I just get going and kept hitting greens and kept giving myself chances. Luckily in the end I made a few putts. I didn't feel so good with the putter today but in the end, it started feeling good."

6/20/2014

Meadow Opens Strong at Pinehurst

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