McIlroy in Twitterspat with Townsend

[Stuart Franklin / Getty Images]

US Open champion Rory McIlroy ended his opening round at the Irish Open with a double bogey as he carded a one-under-par 70 at Killarney, with his regular caddie JP Fitzgerald by his side.

With rumours abounding in the build up to the Killarney event that Irish bagman, Colin Byrne, is in the running to replace Steve Williams and work for Tiger Woods - or at least is one of the top favourites according to the bookies - the role of Fitzgerald received some unwanted attention  on Thursday.

Having taken the blame in media circles for the decision by McIlroy to select the driver on the 10th tee box at Augusta National last April, which started his nightmare round, it all seemed to fade away just as quickly at Congressional when Rory secuerd his wire to wire major win.

But in the opening round of the Irish Open McIlroy was four under after 10 holes and bogeyed the 11th, then finding water at the 18th, even though he had begun the day brightly with birdies at the fourth, sixth, eighth and 10th holes.

"I put myself in a good position but my second nine was pretty disappointing," said McIlroy.

"I played some scrappy golf on the way in and a six at the last is hard to take, but I'm still not too far away.

"The course is in great condition and has been set up really nicely.

"The greens are a little slow but at least you can be aggressive with your putts."

However McIlroy later had a Twitterspat with American commentator Jay Townsend, a former European Tour player, who now works for BBC radio.

Townsend tweeted: "McIlroy's course management was shocking. Some of the worst course management I have ever seen beyond under-10 boys' golf competition."

Unusually McIlroy replied with the words: "Shut up ... you're a commentator and a failed golfer, your opinion means nothing!"

In another part of the exchange Townsend suggested "@mcilroyrory should hire Stevie Williams, as I thought JP allowed some SHOCKING course management today."

Irish Open leaderboard

Gonzo Hoping for Irish Comeback

Gonzo in Abu Dhabi

Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano hopes to bank his first cheque of 2011 in this week's Irish Open in Killarney.

The Spaniard, a four-time European Tour winner, has not struck a competitive shot since the first week in February where he missed the cut in the Qatar Masters. He also failed to make it past the first two rounds in Bahrain the week before - his only other start in 2011.

Killarney, though, has good memories for him as he finished third in last year's Irish Open there so the 30-year-old Spaniard will be hoping a return will help him get back on track.

Explaining his injury, Fernanez-Castano said: "I started suffering in December and at first it was thought to be a little herniation of a disc.

"It only really hurt when I was standing up, so I started to carry a shooting stick around with me and sat on it between shots.

"I went to the Middle East thinking that it would disappear, but it never did - it went worse and that's when I decided to quit. I just couldn't cope with the pain.

"It took a while to find what it was and I visited so many people, but then a well-known back specialist in Barcelona diagnosed a degenerated disc.

"I started having epidural injections and was told to do this and that. The last option was to have surgery, but I'm glad that has not been necessary so far.

"It's still painful. I can walk 18 holes, but I do get tired and it gets tight.

"I played a little bit at home in the Easter holidays when I thought I was getting better and was hoping to come back for Wentworth in May, but it was not good enough then.

"I will try to play as much as I can now, but we'll just have to see."

His Tour exemption runs out at the end of this season, but if he fails to earn enough to keep his card he would seek a medical exemption for at least part of next year.

The Irish Open does not have the strongest field in its history with only three members of the world's top 50, but those three are major winners Darren Clarke, Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell and Dubliner Padraig Harrington, down at 64th in the rankings three years after the last of his three majors, is also in the field.

Sponsored by VIBROGYM Professional

Perfect setting for Irish fairytale

Perfect setting for Irish fairytale - The Irish Times - Thu, Jul 28, 2011

Clarke Plays Down Party Tales

Darren Clarke has told those who criticised his lengthy celebrations after his Open Championship victory to "get a life".

By his own admission, Clarke had "quite a few drinks" after his emotional win at Sandwich and this has led to criticism from some quarters.

However, the Open champion urged those critics to have a sense of perspective.

"Look what happened in Norway over the weekend... I won a golf tournament," said Clarke ahead of the Irish Open.

"There's been a little bit of chat about 'he shouldn't have had a drink, he shouldn't have done this, he shouldn't have done that'.

"People are concerned about whether or not I had one pint too many. I mean, get a life - it's sport.

"It's fantastic and I'm very fortunate to win but you have 93 people that got murdered in Norway [the original death toll has since been revised down to 76]."

After staying up all night immediately after his Sandwich triumph, Clarke partied on when he returned to Portrush.

"I think I lit the candle a little bit too much and had the flu over the weekend," he added.

Clarke, 42, did not sound back to 100% for Wednesday's pro-am but after being "hammered" by three friends when he started playing again on Friday, he has spoken to his mind coaches Bob Rotella and Mike Finnegan.

"I think it's not going to make any difference as to my desire and determination to win tournaments, but I'm much more relaxed," said the Open champion.

"One of Rotella's old sayings is 'try less and get more', whereas I've done trying a lot and getting a little bit."

Clarke joins other Irish major winners Padraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy in the Killarney field.

After his stunning US Open victory, McIlroy finished only 25th at Sandwich and struck a defeatist tone by questioning his own ability to handle windy links-like conditions.

McIlroy said on Wednesday that he regretted those comments.

"I was very frustrated coming off the course - I just really said what I felt at the time.

"I'm going to have to learn how to play in those conditions. You just have to deal with them as best you can."

Harrington Feels No Open Pressure

Padraig Harrington insists he is not feeling any pressure going into the Irish Open presented by Discover Ireland, with much of the attention this week focussing on current Major Champions Darren Clarke and Rory McIlroy.

The former Open and US PGA Champion was runner up to Ross Fisher 12 months ago, pushing the Englishman all the way with a final round 65.

Having already won his national Open in 2007 – just before he captured his first Claret Jug – Harrington is feeling relatively relaxed about teeing it up at Killarney Golf and Fishing Club, although he admits he is keen to get his hands on another trophy this year.

“I'm not that stressed as I would be coming into my National Open in other years,” he said, when asked if the attention was on Ireland’s other Major winners. “I’m probably bringing some other stress in with me but not the stress of having to win this. 

“I’d just I'd like to win a tournament,” he laughed. “It's been eight months or so (since winning the Iskandar Johor Open). It would be nice to have some good performances. That would be my own personal stress. Besides that, there are not too many external factors worrying me at the moment. 

Harrington has fond memories of his title challenge at Killarney 12 months, which despite the fervent home support ultimately came up just short as he finished runner up for a remarkable 27th time on The European Tour.

“It was as a great event last year and the crowds were great,” he said. “The atmosphere was great and Ross Fisher was a clear winner, even though I came reasonably close. 

“I made it somewhat exciting. It would be nice to have a similar performance this year, and you know, maybe for somebody not to play as well as Ross played last year. He really did play great golf. 

“You never really know when it comes to winning a tournament. You just try to look after playing your own game. It will be interesting to see how I get on this year. Obviously I did a lot of things right last year. I got plenty of good breaks and I shot 16 under par. 

“That seems like a lot under par when you play the course. It’s not like there are a lot of opportunities for birdies out there. It doesn't seem like that. But obviously when you get into tournament play and things like, that somebody is going to hole the putts, and obviously it was me and Ross Fisher last year.”

With all four Irish Major Champions in the field – Harrington, Clarke, McIIroy and Graeme McDowell – the Irish Open presented by Discover Ireland is set to be a celebration of everything achieved by the country over the past four years. 

Much has been reported about the influence that Harrington’s three Major Champions had on the three subsequent Irish victories and the 39 year old believes even more success could be on the horizon for European players

“There's no doubt that me winning helped Graeme, and I don't know if we helped Rory, I think that might have happened,” he joked. “But certainly Martin Kaymer certainly said my wins helped him, and I'm sure the lot of us winning has helped Darren do it. 

“It seemed to have worked when you look at Woosie and Lyle and Langer and Olazábal winning on the back of Seve and Faldo sort of thing. Those wins came first, and then obviously it would have been easier for Darren maybe to win a major from 1995 to 2004 if other Europeans were doing it. 

“Obviously now we are winning Majors, so I expect to see not just more European wins, but probably a few other people from Europe winning, as well.”