McIlroy Quotes Korea Open - R1

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Rory McIlroy spoke on Thursday after the first round of the Kolon Korea Open at Woo Jeong Hills Country Club:

Q: A flying finish, you must be pleased.

A: Yeah, it was a good finish especially after making double bogey on 13. To finish the last five holes at three under was very nice. It was tough, some of the pin positions out there today were brutal, just cut on slopes and very hard to get close to them and when you did get close to them you left yourself very tricky putts. It was hard to shoot a low score out there today. I felt I was a little rusty after the four weeks off but I battled back nicely and to end up under par for the day wasn't too bad.

Q: I'm sure you don't want to dwell on the negative, but talk us through the double bogey

A: I just wasn't very comfortable with the tee shot. I took a long time to get settled over it and then just didn't make a very good swing. But as I said, I came back well after that and played the last five holes very strongly.

Q: Despite the notorious pin positions, you've hit a 64 out here, in the final round last time out. Do you have that in you again?

A: Definitely. It's one of those courses where you've got generous greens so if you hit a lot of greens and get your putter going you can definitely shoot low.

Q: And tomorrow, will you be aggressive?

A: It all depends where they put the pins again. You definitely don't want to miss them on the wrong side. You don't want to short side yourself. There's not many low scores out there … if I plot my way along and pick up a few birdies here and there I won't be too far away.

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Dutch Daan Takes Route 66

Dutchman Daan Huizing will take a six-shot lead into the final round of the Northern Ireland Open after producing a flawless 66 on Saturday.

Huizing kept a bogey off his card to be six ahead of Sweden's Jens Dantorp, England's James Heath and Germany's Bernd Ritthammer going into Sunday.

2008 Ryder Cup player Oliver Wilson is in fifth spot seven off the pace.

Jonathan Caldwell is the leading Irish player in share of 12th place on five under after firing a 71 on Saturday.

Ballymena amateur Dermot McElroy lost ground as a disappointing opening 12 holes led to him carding a three-over 74 which dropped him back to a share of 36th on two under.

Derry man Michael McGeady, who was only one off the pace after his 65 on Thursday, also slipped back to two under after a 74 which included five bogeys in marked contrast to his nine birdies on day one.

Mourne amateur Reeve Whitson performed creditably as a one-over 72 left him on one under but the big talking point at the Ballymena course was Huizing's dominant performance in front of over 6,000 spectators.

The 22-year-old Dutchman has now gone 35 holes without a bogey at Galgorm Castle as his rounds of 65, 66 and 66 put in control of the tournament.

Huizing started his round with six pars on Saturday but four birdies in six holes from the seventh saw him pull away from the field.

Even a run of five straight pars from the 13th didn't see his advantage trimmed and for good measure, he birdied the last to put further daylight between him and the trio on 10 under.

"It took me a few holes to relax into the round today but once I did that I managed to play really well and take a few chances," said Huizing, who has produced four top five Challenge Tour finishes in just six appearances this season.

"To be six ahead is really good because I can probably be a little bit more conservative tomorrow."

Englishman Heath's six-birdie 65 moved him into a share of second place with Swede Dantorp (69) and first-round joint-leader Ritthammer (68).

European Ryder Cup star from 2008 Wilson showed that he is edging back to some kind of form as his 68 left him alone in fifth place on nine under.

"At the start of the year, I was playing absolutely terribly. I didn't know where the ball was going but it has been getting better over the last month or so," Wilson told BBC Sport.

Wilson's compatriot Sam Walker charged up the leaderboard after squeezing into the weekend action on the cut mark of one under as he equalled the best round of the week with his 64, which included an eagle at the ninth.

Clandeboye man Caldwell battled back well with two late birdies which helped undo some of the damage of three straight bogeys from the ninth as he signed for a 71.

Amateur McElroy opened with five pars on Saturday but a dropped shot at the sixth was then followed by three straight bogeys after the turn.

McElroy's lone birdie came at the last which left him on two under alongside McGeady.

Former Madrid Masters champion Ross McGowan, who shared second place overnight, tumbled down the leaderboard as a 76 dropped him to three under while three-time European Tour winner Nick Dougherty is on one under after a disappointing 73.

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Hoey Cut at Galgorm Castle

Michael Hoey missed the cut at the Northern Ireland Open at Galgorm Castle after a four-over-par 76 left him well down the field on four over par.

Hoey called a two-shot penalty on himself as he carded a triple-bogey seven at the 11th, his second hole.

Portrush's Alan Dunbar (74) also missed the cut by one shot on level par.

Dutchman Dean Huizing leads on 11 under while Dermot McElroy (70) and Jonathan Caldwell (69) are the best placed NI players on five under.

Jen Dantop and Ross McGowan are three behind Huizing in tied second with four players a further shot back.

Former Walker Cup player Caldwell, from Clandeboye, moved into the running thanks to a 69.

Ballymena golfer Dermot McElroy (70) and Michael McGeady (72) are also five under.

Gareth Shaw (72) and Northern Ireland amateur Reeve Whitson (69) made the cut on two under.

Former British amateur champion Dunbar failed to make the cut following a disappointing 74.

Richard Kilpatrick and Paul Cutler both registered rounds of 72 to finish four over.

Hoey, a five-time European Tour winner, told reporters that he was "massively disappointed" not to be involved in the weekend's action after a round in which "everything that could go wrong did go wrong".

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McGeady in NI Open Mix

Michael McGeady is one behind the leaders after firing a six-under 65 on day one in the Northern Ireland Open at Galgorm Castle.

McGeady was one behind German Bernd Ritthammer and England's James Ruth.

Ross McGowan, Norway's Jens Dantorp and Scot Andrew McArthur and Dutchman Daan Huizing joined McGeady on 65.

Nick Dougherty and Oliver Wilson both showed a return to form as they carded rounds of 66 with Gareth Shaw firing a 68 and Michael Hoey on 70.

Nuremberg-born Ritthammer, who finished second in the Challenge de Espana event in June, fired a flawless seven-birdie 64 as he took advantage of the benign conditions at the Ballymena course and was later joined by 28-year-old Plymouth native Ruth.

Donegal-based McGeady is playing in only his second Challenge Tour event of the year.

McGeady, 35, has a Challenge Tour victory to his name after triumphing at the Wales Challenge in 2008 but lost his card for the second-tier European circuit at the end of the 2011 season.

However, McGeady clearly likes the Galgorm course as he achieved top-six finishes in the two most recent EuroPro events staged at the Ballymena venue.

The Derry man's round on Thursday included a remarkable nine birdies as he produced tidy halves of 32 and 33.

Former Madrid Masters champion McGowan, who narrowly missed out on earning a Ryder Cup place in 2010, also carded a 65 which was highlighted by an eagle-three at the last.

Dougherty, who like McGowan is now aged 31, has had three European Tour wins in his career but he has struggled badly for form over the past three seasons.

Liverpool-born Dougherty has earned less than £400 in 10 Challenge Tour events this season and lies 252nd in the rankings.

However, he showed signs of a return to form on Thursday in his seven-birdie 66 while 2008 European Ryder Cup player Wilson dropped only one shot as he matched Dougherty's round.

Also on 66 was another Englishman Andrew Johnston whose round included a hole in one at the seventh.

Ballymena amateur Dermot McElroy was in a large group sharing 15th place on 67

Local hope Shaw found himself at one over par on two occasions in his opening nine but five birdies in nine holes saw him improve to four under before he finished with a disappointing six at the long 18th.

Shaw, who shared fifth place at the Irish Open in June, is currently chasing a European Tour card for 2014 both from the Race to Dubai and Challenge Tour routes.

Shaw's 68 was matched by former Walker Cup player Jonathan Caldwell and Alan Dunbar but favourite and tournament ambassador Hoey carded a rather scrappy 70 which included four bogeys.

Recent Russian Open champion Hoey bogeyed three of his opening six holes to slip to two over and needed birdies at the 15th and last to better par.

Dunbar's 2011 Walker Cup team-mate Paul Cutler faces a battle to make Friday evening's cut after an opening 74.

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Colm Shares Concra Wood Lead

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Paul Doherty and Colm Moriarty share the lead on three under par at the Kingspan Concra Wood Open after each shot 69 on the opening day of the 888poker.com PGA EuroPro Tour event.

The pair are one clear of the six golfers who share third place on two under at the par-72 course in Castleblayney, Ireland.

Scotsman Doherty (Vale Hotel) carded birdies on the first, fifth and 11th to sign for an opening-round 69. The 28-year-old missed the cut at Concra Wood in 2012 but didn’t suffer a single bogey in the opening round of this season’s tournament on Wednesday.

Moriarty, who plays out of Glasson Hotel and Golf Club in Westmeath, started his round on the tenth and turned home two under after birdies at 15 and 17. A four on the par-five first took him to three under and he closed out the remainder of his round to par, matching Doherty’s 69 to share the lead ahead of day two.

A finish which featured an eagle at 15 and birdies at 17 and 18 saw last year’s Kingspan Concra Wood Open winner Billy Hemstock (Teignmouth GC) transform a score of two over par to sign for a two-under 70, leaving him as one of six players just one stroke off the lead.

Irishmen Ruaidhri McGee (Rosapenna), Neil O’Briain (Old Conna Golf Club) and Michael McGeady are also two under after day one, as are Scotland’s Jordan Findlay (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre) and England’s Alex Belt (De Vere/Snainton), who won his first888poker.com PGA EuroPro Tour event at the PDC & WSL Open at Collingtree Park in June.

A two-hour highlights package of the event will be broadcast on Sky Sports HD at 7pm on Tuesday, August 6, repeated on Wednesday, August 7.

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Maybin Makes Muirfield Open

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Gareth Maybin will tee up in the British Open at Muirfield next month after two rounds in the international final qualifying at Sunningdale.

The 32-year-old former World Cup player, who completed a scholarship at the University of South Alabama before turning professional in 2005, posted a 36-hole total of 136 over the Old and New courses with rounds of 67 and 69.

That put the Northern Irishman from Donagh, Co Fermanagh in a tie for third place behind American Brooks Koepka and England's Oliver Fisher.

In a tense situation, Maybin kept his nerve over the closing holes on the New Course, finishing with two birdies and four pars.

Michael Hoey – with whom Maybin played for Ireland in the 2007 World Cup in China, missed out after recording 140 with scores of 71 and 69 to put him outside the top 20.

Meanwhile, Dubliner Neil O'Briain took a step towards booking a place in The Open Championship by making final qualifying in Scotland next week, when he topped the six going through from yesterday's regional qualifier over the Island course.

The former Waterford College graduate, now attached to the Old Conna Club was third in the 2011 Irish PGA Club Pros Championship and yesterday fired a 70 – one below the standard scratch score – to finish well clear of his rivals.

Bushfort-based David Jones and Derry's 35-year-old Michael McGeady, the 2008 Swalec Welsh Challenge Tour event winner, both went through with scores of 73.

Local man David Ramaluk, Brendon McConnell and Killarney's Daniel Sugrue also overcame the regional qualifying hurdle.

However, Royal Portrush amateur Matthew McAlpine, who qualified for the match play stages of the British Amateur Championship in Kent last week, fell by the wayside with a 77.

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