Irish 1-2 at end of first day in Duke of

York Young Champions' Tournament


FROM THE DUKE OF YORK YOUNG CHAMPIONS TROPHY WEBSITE
Dermot McElroy, the Irish Boys’ champion, had a level-par 71 to take a two-shot lead over 15-year-old compatriot, Leona Maguire, on a blustery first day in the Duke of York Young Champions Trophy at Royal St George’s, Kent.

At the turn, the Irish Curtis Cup golfer was the better placed at one under par to McElroy’s two over. However, where Leona signed off with a triple-bogey 7 for her 73, McElroy was at his best over the closing holes, finishing 3,3,4,4 to match the par of the course.
How Leona could have done with her twin sister’s last hole. Though Lisa amassed a trouble-strewn 6 at the 17th, she had signed off with a birdie for the 75 which left her in a share of third place with Kenny Subregis of France and Gudmundur Kristjansson of Iceland.
Leona’s seven began with a drive which saw her perfectly placed to make the green in two. As it was, her second shot, a slight push, coincided with a rush of left-to-right wind. Her ball disappeared into knee-high grass and, though her playing companion, Rhys Pugh, found four or five missiles, they were as so many false alarms.

Leona, the reigning French International Under-21 Ladies’ champion, knocked what was her fourth shot into the bunker short of the green and took three more to get down.
Yet she was not alone in ruing a disappointing finish. Canada’s 17-year-old Richard Jung, the leading boy a year ago, was another who was one under at the turn and playing steadily.
“Two bad swings” proved Jung’s undoing on a homeward half which eventually cost him a 77. At the tenth, his recovery from the left rough flew over the green while, at the 14th, what was meant to be a sensible knock-down shot from the tee resulted in a lost ball.
Jung, last year’s Canadian Junior champion, was more bemused than anything else at the end of his round. “I was hitting 4-irons for shots of 160 yards and leaving them short,” he said to an audience who would not have expected to hit 160 yards with the strongest of winds at their back.
One country’s wind is not necessarily the same as another’s. Jung explained how, in Canada, there is apt to be “the occasional big whoosh” rather than the kind of steady buffeting which was going on today.
As for the South African contingent, Brandon Stone, who was round in 80, he said that in Johannesburg, the wind was little more than the occasional whisper. “Nothing like this,” he laughed.
Connie Chen, the other South African competitor, had been as well placed as two under par after eight holes. She still had a good score in the making when she left the 12th green but could not stop dropping shots over the last few holes, with the last costing her a double.
Chen, very politely, refused to blame the English weather. Instead, she blamed herself: “I did a lot of silly things.’

LEADING FIRST ROUND SCORES
71 Dermot McElroy.
73 Leona Maguire.
75 Lisa Maguire, Kenny Subregis, Gudmundir Kristjansson, Anthony Paolucci.
Other score:
78 Grant Forrest.

CLICK HERE TO READ ALL THE SCORES