Booth, Betty joint top Scots

with 76 in windy start to

Irish open stroke-play

Comrie's Wallace Booth, last year's Scottish men's amateur stroke-play champion, and Paul Betty (Hayston) were the best placed Scots at windswept Royal Dublin in the first round of the Irish men's open amateur stroke-play championship.
High winds delayed play from 9am until nearly 10.30 as Irish Golf Union officials adjudged that the conditions were so bad the course was unplayable.
Late starters finished almost in darkness but Paul Betty, pictured by Cal Carson Golf Agency, could see well enough to return a two-over-par 76 to match the score returned much earlier in the day by Booth.
Sunningdale's Farren Keenan posted a two-over-par 74 comparatively early in the day but many hours later it was still standing out on its own at the top of the leaderboard, despite the calibre of the international field.
Wind is a great leveller.
Booth's and Betty's hard-earned 76s put them in joint fifth place and they will have been happy with that on a day when disaster limitation was the name of the game.
Four other Scots - Gavin Dear (Murrayshall), Keir McNicoll (Carnoustie), Myles Cunningham (Craigielaw) and Mark Bookless - were able to break 70, Dear with a 77 and McNicoll with a 79, which were commendable efforts in the conditions.
The 17-year-old defending champion from Portugal, Pedro Figueiredo, was blown away to an 85, the same score as recent Edward Trophy winner at Glasgow Gailes, Paul O'Hara (Colville Park).
Figueiredo was four under par for the first 36 holes last year and won by seven strokes with a 10-under-par total of 278. A repeat is not now on the cards with the young Portuguese in danger of not making the top 40 and ties after Saturday's second round, who will go on to Sunday's final 36 holes.

FIRST ROUND SCORES
Par 72
74: F Keenan (England)
75: J Fox (Portmarnock), N Kearney (The Royal Dublin), M Veijalainen (Finland)
76: W Booth (Scotland), P Betty (Scotland)
77: R McCarthy (The Island), R Leonard (Banbridge), T Hakula (Finland), G Dear (Scotland)
78: B Anderson (Co. Sligo), S Moloney (Castletroy), D Whitnell (England), P Westermann (Germany), D Lernihan (Castle), P Cutler (Portstewart), J Monaghan (The Island), N Grant (Knock), R Laino (England), A Runcie (Wales), S Hutsby (England)
79: L Brady (The Royal Dublin), D Ruddy (Thurles), K McNicoll (Scotland), S Lowry (Esker Hills), M Cunningham (Scotland), T Pulkkanen (Finland), P Purdy (Shandon Park), M Thistleton (England), M Bookless (Scotland), R Durnin (Laytown & Bettystown), R Prophet (England), B Walton (The Island), R McNamara (Headfort)
80: R Kellett (Scotland), H Satama (Finland), A Dunbar (Rathmore), G Paterson (Scotland), S Borrowman (Scotland), T Beaumont (England), R Cannon (Laytown & Bettystown), J McGinn (Laytown & Bettystown), M Durcan (Co. Sligo), J Ross (Scotland), G Dillon (The Heath), S Hodgson (England), A Hogan (Newlands)
81: S McEwan (Scotland), P Croonquist (USA), M Rivard (Canada), E Arthurs (Forrest Little), M Buggy (Castlecomer), T O' Flynn (Fota Island), C Curley (Newlands), C Doran (Banbridge), L Goddard (England)
82: C Drumm (Rosslare), J Carlota (Portugal), S Einhaus (Germany), G McDermott (Co. Sligo), C Wilson (USA), P Shields (Scotland), I Brennan (Greenore), C Durnian (England), T Dogil (Germany), M Hammond (Moyola Park), G McGrane (The Royal Dublin), J Morris (Rosslare), L Lennox (Moyola Park), D Morgan (Mullingar), P McLean (Scotland), M Glauert (Germany), S Brown (England), G McGee (Malone), D Murphy (Portarlington), B Reiter (Austria), G Lawlor (Newbridge)
83: C O'Malley (Westport), C Thomson (Scotland), D O'Donovan (Muskerry), R Bridges (Stackstown), A Kirstein (Germany), C Robb (Scotland), D Coyle (Co. Louth), J Haglund (Finland), O Mikkola (Finland)
84: P Dunne (Greystones), P Murray (Limerick), T McGowan (Strandhill), S Binning (Scotland), G Yates (Scotland), H Bacher (Austria), K McDonagh (Athlone), T Fay (Rush)
85: M Brett (Portmarnock), M Violas (Portugal), P Figueiredo (Portugal), M Downes (England), P O'Hara (Scotland), E Kennedy (England)
86: R McGee (Ireland), O Sharpe (England), B Campbell (Malone), S Wolters (Germany), T Rodrigues (Portugal), M Reardon (USA), G O'Connor-Brooks (USA)
87: J Jóia (Portugal), K Samooja (Finland)
88: J Hendrick (Scotland), A Llorente (Colombia), G Dunne (Seapoint), R Cronheim (USA), A Dooley (Glasson)
89: K Nicol (Scotland), M Aurnhammer (Germany), F Illouz (France).
90: G Perne (Slovenia), C Schroder (Germany)
91: N Woods (East Clare)