Cormac Sharvin of Killeen Castle, Dooks’ Daniel Sugrue and Casteltroy’s Jack Ryan share first-round leader honours at the Touchstore 116th Irish PGA Championship at Limerick Golf Club after an opening round that turned nasty as the heavens opened in the afternoon.
Ryan, from the neighbouring Limerick town, was among the early starters and made light of the rain that accompanied him for most of the front nine to make the turn at four-under having birdied the second then reeled off a hat-trick on six, seven and eight.
His first dropped shot came on the 11th, but he’d already added to his birdie tally on the 10th and responded by eagling the 12th to move to -6 and though he briefly got to -7 by birdieing 15, another bogey on 16 and two closing pars got him into the clubhouse with an impressive target for the later starters to aim for.
“It’s a course I really, really like. There are plenty of chances out there, but you have to be in spots where you can give yourself the chances, and thankfully my driver was pretty good today and then the putter got a bit hot, so I’m delighted to finish where I did,” Ryan said.
With four new greens constructed recently, Ryan matched fellow Castletroy man Dean McMahon’s new course-record setting round that was achieved in the Senior Scratch Cup earlier this year, and he admitted that it was on his mind as he played the last.
“Dean’s a really good friend of mine so I was hoping that I’d take bragging rights over him and be able to give a bit of slagging, but it wasn’t to be,” he added.
Sugrue, coming off a third-place finish thanks to a final-round 66 at the PGA Open Series event in Carlow midweek, was the first to move alongside Ryan. The Killarney native went bogey-free, posting three birdies on each side but it was his deft up-and-down after driving just short of the 17th green that gave him a share of the lead.
“I played very well today,” Sugrue said. “I struck it well and gave myself plenty of chances and if you can get the putter going well here, you can make plenty of birdies.
“I didn’t come straight from Carlow to here, but it almost feels like it, so you just try to keep doing what you’re doing and hope that you can keep that kind of form alive, but there’s a long way to go and a lot of really good players in the field.
“But a round like this sets it up nicely for the next two rounds.”
Sharvin got his round underway at 1pm and though scoring conditions were close to ideal for the first six or seven holes, rain that alternated between heavy and steady was a constant factor for the remainder.
Ardglass-born Sharvin birdied three of his opening nine holes, then added two more on 12 and 15, dropping a shot on 13 but a superb tee shot to six feet on the par-5 17th set up a lead-tying eagle putt that he made no mistake on.
“I had to be patient all day. I felt like I had really good control of the ball but just didn’t hole much then I drove it to six feet on 17 and holed that one for eagle, so I’m happy enough with 66,” Sharvin said.
“To be honest, I haven’t been driving the ball great recently, but I drove it really well today and I’m reasonably long so I was able to drive it near a couple of the par-4s and I just played really aggressively and took it on and managed to get myself in reasonably good position.”
A strong chasing pack is assembling behind, with Richard Kilpatrick, winner of three titles on the Region in 2026 shooting a five-under 67 to move alongside Conor Ryan in a tie for fourth.
2017 Championship winner and Limerick native Tim Rice bogeyed the last to drop back to -4, and though he was naturally disappointed to close out with a three-putt, he’s very much in the hunt to give the Limerick Golf Club faithful the dream scenario of having the hometown hero do the business on home turf.
He’s joined by Damian Mooney, Niall Kearney, Sebastien McShane and Conor O’Rourke on that number, while defending champion Simon Thornton lurks ominously just outside the top 10 at -3 and in a five-way tie for 11th.
“I’d have bitten your hand off for three-under with the weather the way it was,” Thornton said. “But it could’ve been a lot better. You hit greens and give yourself a lot of chances, but you know you can’t hole them all, but I’m in the mix, three shots behind. It’s just where you want to be so hopefully I can go out tomorrow, shoot a good score, post a number and see where it leaves me going into Wednesday.
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