David Mortimer of FORE Ireland was the best of the three Irish PGA Order of Merit players in the first round of the 36 hole Srixon Play-Offs, at Little Aston in Birmingham, carding a two under par round of 70 to finish four shots off the overnight leader Matthew Morris of England on 6 under.
Morris, winner of the Midlands order of Merit, set a fast pace in the opening round and showed his liking for his local setting by signing for a round of 66. The bogey-free round, to put him two strokes clear of the field in the chase for the £2,000 first prize, and included six birdies.
There were birdies at the sixth and seventh to complete the opening half in a two-under total of 35 before for the inward run of nine Birdies followed at the 12th, 13th, 15th and 17th. Although Morris claimed it was not that easy.
"I dodged a couple of bullets, especially on the par three ninth where I hit a bad tee shot but I managed to make par," he said. "And I found a fairway bunker on the 18th but got away with par again. You've always got to scramble if you want to make a good score."
The closest challenger, Scotland's Greig Hutcheon, opened up with birdies at the third, fourth and seventh and carded another three on the back nine. However, bogeys on the ninth and 13th left him two shots adrift of the leader overnight.
John Wells of Cherry Burton was another in the 21-strong field left rueing two bogeys along with David Shacklady of Mossock Hall - who also signed for a 69.
David Higgins of Waterville opened with a bogey on the first but recovered to make the turn in level par and then picked up two more shots on the 10th and 11th holes. However a dropped shot on par four 17th set him back to one under finish and signing for a round of 71 in share of 6th place.
Damian Mooney had the toughest day of the three Irish PGA region players with double bogeys on holes 10 and 18 the biggest setback leaving him 2 over par on day and in 17th place – having made the turn in 34.
Mooney tees off on Thursday morning at 9:10hrs alongside Brett Taylor of England and Richard Dinsdale of Wales.
David Higgins plays with Chris Doak of Scotland and Englishman Paul Streeter at 9:40hrs.
David Mortimer tees off in the second last group with English duo, James Harris and John Wells at 09:50hrs.
