It was amateur hour, for all the right reasons, on day one of the Alps de Las Castillas, with the Irish in the hunt in Spain. Today, however belonged to the amateur duo of France’s Nathan Legendre and Spaniard Albert Boneta blitzing the field to score astonishing matching course records of 60.
Robert Moran continues his fine form to lead the Irish charge, level with Michael Young on -5 after a pair of good opening rounds.
The two matched each other with eagles on the par-5 17th, one of the hottest holes of the day. Both men will feel there was more out there too, as Moran would follow his eagle with double on the following hole undoing all his good work on 17.
Young too will feel he left a couple out there with a bogey on the par-4 second hole followed by back-to-back dropped shots from the 12th. Their form bodes well heading into day two with the duo looking to make inroads into the leading pair’s score.
It would turn into a good day for the Irish contingent as a whole with all five under-par for their first round in this Spanish dominated field on Golf Lerma.
Paul McBride is next up on -2, 10 strokes back off the remarkable day one lead. Par for his outward nine today saw the Island player trading a pair of birdies with a couple of dropped shots. McBride went on to bookend his back nine with birdie on the par-5 10th and a birdie-birdie run home in his final two to close out his day on 70.
Bringing up the rear and tied one shot back on -1 we have Marc Boucher and Brandon St. John. Boucher was the sole Irish to start on the back nine to kick off his week.
The Carton House player started quickly with birdie on his first, the par-5 10th only to hand it straight back on the following hole. Another one was gained and lost to see Boucher turn on par. A more sedate back nine today for the 25-year-old, eight pars and a single birdie on the par-5 eighth hole saw him creep under par heading into day two.
St. John’s 71 first round was business like too, recovering from bogey on his opener with a 3-2 run from the 4th to snatch two back and turn on -1. And there he would stay, a single birdie on his second last to recover from a dropped shot on the par-4 13th sees him tied with Boucher and in decent shape heading into Friday.
Legrende and Boneta stole the show on the first round with the two amateurs carding the rounds of their life to take the overnight in the Alps de Las Castillas.
Three eagles for Legrende and two for Boneta, with 17 birdies between them give a glimpse into two remarkable scoring rounds. Boneta’s back nine was the scorecard of dreams, blemish free, with seven birdies and an eagle to come home in 27 (-9). Fairytale stuff for the pair. Third place Maximilian Steinlechner of Austria must have been left scratching his head coming off the 18th after a fantastic -8 64 only to find himself four shots adrift. Yet another amateur showing the pros how its done is fourth place Marcel Fonseca again from Spain on seven under after his 65.
Legendre gave his thoughts after smashing the course record.
“Today was an incredible round where I drove the ball and putted very well. I made almost no mistakes whatsoever and played the easy holes very well,” he said, adding: “change of putter that occurred in mid-May. My putting has improved a lot in the last 2 months, and that’s how my scores have significantly improved.”
Next home of the 22-year-olds, Boneta gave his thoughts: “extremely satisfied on how great I putted great on the back 9, I did not get in trouble at all today and holed everything.” He also explained how he found: “This week’s course to be wide from the tee so it is easy not to get in trouble. There are courses that I just get more connected with, and this is one of those. I like how the ball rolls on the greens, and I found it easy to read them.”
First out of the Irish on Friday will be Michael Young from the 10th tee at 13.30 followed shortly after on the first hole by Marc Boucher at 13.41. Next out and back on the 10th Robert Moran heads away at 14.14 in a group featuring one of the men of the hour, joint leader Legrende. Paul McBride will be next to start his second round on the back nine at 14.58 while St. John finishes up on the nightshift. A 15.20 start for the final of the Irish to take on Friday at the Alps de Las Castillas.