Stephen Gallacher two shots off lead after first round of Irish Open

Scot fires three-under 67 to sit joint fifth at Galgorm Castle

Stephen Gallacher was disappointed he didn’t birdie the 16th or 17th but overall was happy with his first-round score at the Irish Open. Picture: Getty.

Stephen Gallacher is tied for fifth place after carding a three-under-par 67 in the first round of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open yesterday.

The Scot was co-leader of the event at Galgorm Castle in County Antrim after seven holes and sits only two shots off the lead.

“I got off to a flier, holed a few putts and got it going,” said the four-time European Tour winner. “I was disappointed not to birdie 16 or 17 from the fairway but 67 is a good score out there.

“We’ve got a big four weeks coming up for all of us and that’s why I came here. These few weeks are going to require a lot of patience with the cold weather and I wanted to get my game in shape for an important run of tournaments.”

Dean Burmester, Jordan Smith and Aaron Rai are joint leaders after hitting brilliant 65s. Early starter Burmester raced to seven under after 12 holes as thoughts harboured of the second 59 in European Tour history.

Four pars followed to derail those thoughts before the South African double-bogeyed the penultimate hole to drop to five under par, although this still proved to be a daunting clubhouse target.

“For 16 holes, I played flawless golf pretty much,” Burmester said. “I didn’t really miss a shot. A couple of great up-and-downs kept the momentum going and then unfortunately on 17 I fell asleep over a three-footer. But other than that, honestly, I played great.”

English pair Smith and Rai were the only players to go blemish-free as they carded five birdies to match Burmester at the top of the 
leaderboard.

Smith picked up shots at the second and eighth before adding further gains at the tenth and 12th to sit one adrift.

When the 27-year-old rolled in his fifth birdie at the 16th, he was the joint leader. Smith had a great chance to go into the solo lead at the last but his birdie putt rolled up inches short to remain at five under.

“I am happy with today,” Smith said. “I need to go work on my driving a little bit and holing out but apart from that, very happy.”

Rai recorded only one birdie on the front nine – at the sixth – before dialling in on the back nine. He picked up shots at the tenth, 12th, 14th and 16th but could not improve his score as he made it a three-way tie.

David Law and Scott Jamieson were next best among the Scots with matching 69s while Calum Hill, who won on the Challenge Tour on this course two years ago, and Ewen Ferguson both signed for 70s. Open champion Shane Lowry carded a 75, while European Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington finished on 71.

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