Disappointing start for the Irish at Eisenhower Trophy

The Irish team have a lot of ground to make up after a slow start to the Eisenhower Trophy – The World Amateur Team Championships – at Tanah Merah Country Club in Singapore.

Reigning Irish Amateur Open and Irish Amateur Close champion Stuart Grehan recorded the best round of the three-man team with a one-over-par 73 to lie tied for 35th, while Caolan Rafferty, who recently became the first player to complete the four points of ‘The Compass’ by adding the North of Ireland Championship to the South, West and East titles that he’d previously won and John Doyle, fresh off an appearance in the Junior Ryder Cup in New York, shot matching four-over 75s and share 67th.

With two players scores counting each day, that leaves the Irish team on +4, tied for 28th in the 36-team field and 11 strokes behind early pace setters Mexico who lead the way on -7, with Carlos Astiazaran and Eduardo Derbez carding rounds of 68 and 69 respectively.

The good news is that the Irish trio were all playing in the afternoon wave which proved to be considerably tougher for scoring than the morning where the leading three teams and five of the leading seven individuals were placed. Thursday’s second round will see Grehan in the lead-out group off the first tee, with Rafferty and Doyle following in consecutive groups.

Singapore’s own Hiroshi Hirahara Tai tops the individual leaderboard thanks to a seven-under 65, finishing the day one clear of South African Christiaan Maas who recorded one of only two bogey-free rounds on the day.

The big surprise of the day was that the United States team, featuring two of the top-four ranked players in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, plus reigning U.S. Amateur champion, Mason Howell, struggled with Howell, Ethan Fang and Preston Stout all shooting matching 75s to leave the team fourth-to-last at +6.

FULL SCORING