We're two rounds into the Irish Open and we've already gotten a taste of how tough Royal County Down can be. The leading score is just 3-under and is held by six players including the likes of Chris Wood, Bernd Wiesberger, Soren Kjeldsen, and more. The cut has also been set at 6-over par.
To say Royal County Down is playing tough so far is actually an understatement. I mentioned in my Picks post that unpredictability would be a key factor in the difficulty of the course and that was just the case in the weekday rounds. Conditions started off favourable for the early Thursday rounds but steadily worsened as time passed. During today's round, only 15 out of 156 players managed to break par and a round in the low to mid 70's was considered average.
Irishman Padraig Harrington didn't let an injury and withdrawal from the BMW PGA last week hinder him this week. He's currently tied for 2nd place with Luke Donald. Padraig predicted earlier this week that an Irishman would win the tournament and so far it's looking like it could be him!
Tournament host and World Number One Rory McIlroy shot a 80/71 and missed the cut for a 3rd straight year. His opening round of 80 was his worst professional round since 2011. Many will probably attribute this to fatigue and that's looking like the case.
Continuing with the trend of bad scores, American Jonathan Moore made headlines for all the wrong reasons. The 2007 Walker Cup hero knows Royal County Dawn well, but carded a Kevin Na-esque 13 on Royal County Down's par 4 13th hole, which included four lost balls (three off the tee) and an encounter with a bunker. He finished the tournament in last place and was subsequently cut.
Finally, here's how our picks are doing:
1) Lee Westwood: T39 at 4-over
2) Miguel Angel Jimenez: T19 at 2-over
3) Tommy Fleetwood: T39 at 4-over
1) Graeme McDowel: T55 at 5-over
I really didn't expect all of my picks to make the cut this week considering how tough the course has been. Good results from all though, but yet again GMac just barely makes the cut. He still gets to play the weekend though, which is certainly a plus.
Given the log jam of leaders expect even better golf to come this weekend. Who knows how Royal County Down will play? Stay tuned for our results post on Sunday.
-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews
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