Greig Hutcheon in Irish contention

By PAUL SYMES
Aberdeen ace Greig Hutcheon put a disappointing start to the season behind him with an opening round of 68 in the Challenge of Ireland presented by Moyvalley.
With the afternoon starters yet to complete their rounds, Hutcheon is on four under par alongside former Ryder Cup player Peter Baker, home hope Jonathan Caldwell, current Number Three Robert Coles and Norway’s Peter Kaensche.
The Scot is yet to finish inside the top 60 this season, but he got off to a sound start in his fifth event with five birdies and a solitary bogey at Moyvalley Hotel and Golf Resort in Co. Kildare, Ireland.
With some important big-money events to come in France and Sweden over the next two weeks, the 36 year old was pleased to show signs of a return to form over a course which he praised as “excellent”.
Hutcheon, who started his round on the 10th hole, said: “I played nicely today. I struggled a little bit to start with, but birdied the 18th hole to get back to level par, and then was pretty pleased with my back nine. I played well yesterday in the Pro-Am, which we won, so I knew my game was in good shape.
“It’s going to have to be in good shape, because we’ve got an important few weeks coming up. I said to myself when I was practising last week that if I can play well in the next few events, then I’ve got a great chance to catch some of the players ahead of me in the Rankings, which will make up for a slow start to the season. Having said that, I haven’t got a great record in St Omer, because the course doesn’t really suit my game.
“But I really liked the course here straight away. [Co-designer] Darren Clarke’s done a good job with the layout, and the greenkeepers have done a very good job with the upkeep, because it’s in fantastic condition. Even though it’s quite new the course has got really good character, because they’ve managed to incorporate most of the natural features. That’s quite unusual in itself, because young courses tend to be slightly featureless. But not this one. So they should be very proud of the job they’ve done.”

In his maiden Challenge Tour appearance of the season and on his first visit to the country, Sweden’s Ake Nilsson showed a liking for Ireland by grabbing the lead on the opening day of the Challenge of Ireland presented by Moyvalley.
Having earned his European Tour card through the Qualifying School – Final last November, Nilsson has at times struggled to make headway in The Race to Dubai this year.
But he restored some confidence with a fluent round of 67 at Moyvalley Hotel and Golf Resort in Co. Kildare to finish the day on five under par, one shot clear of a group of eight players which includes former Ryder Cup player Peter Baker, leading home hope Jonathan Caldwell, current Number Three Robert Coles, and Scotland’s Greig Hutcheon.
Nilsson said: “I opened with a bogey, so my round didn’t get off to the best start. But then I bounced back with a 30ft putt for birdie on the second, which got me going. The key today was definitely my putting, because I also sunk another 30ft putt on the 17th hole. I’m usually a streaky putter – today was a good day, but tomorrow could be a bad day! I just hope my putter stays warm for the next three days. It would be good if the weather stays warm for the next few days as well, although I have no problem playing in tough conditions.”
Another player hoping for brighter days after a difficult start to his maiden European Tour campaign is Caldwell, who like Nilsson also earned his card through the Qualifying School.
Having largely ironed out the imperfections in his game and mastered some minor changes to his swing, the Ulsterman is now confident of kick-starting his season with an improved performance in front of his home supporters.
He said: “My game’s slowly starting to come together now, and my main aim over the next couple of weeks is to earn enough money to get into the Kazakhstan Open at the end of the season.”
In contrast, the ultra-consistent Coles has somewhat loftier ambitions, having powered his way to third place in the Challenge Tour Rankings thanks largely to his recent victory in Morocco.
But the 36 year old Essex “boy”, who is yet to finish outside the top 20 in five starts this season, was almost forced to withdraw from the event after suffering a bout of food poison at the start of the week.
He said: “I was sick all day Monday, and then when I did make it out of bed on Tuesday, I was struggling to hit the ball! But I felt a bit better yesterday, so I decided to play – and I’m very glad I did.”
Baker, the Argentinean duo of Julian Etulain and Cesar Monasterio, Hutcheon, Germany’s Max Kramer and Norway’s Peter Kaensche made it an eight-way tie for second place, the latter courtesy of a final hole birdie which completed a flawless round of 68.
The Norwegian’s round was the reverse of Baker’s, as he reached the turn in 36 shots and came home in 32; whereas the Englishman picked up four shots on the way out, before parring every hole on the back nine.

FIRST ROUND SCOREBOARD
67 Å Nilsson (Swe) ,
68 M Kramer (Ger) , R Coles (Eng) , P Kaensche (Nor) , C Monasterio (Arg) , P Baker (Eng) , J Caldwell (Nir) , J Etulain (Arg) , G Hutcheon (Sco) ,
69 G Woodman (Eng) ,
70 D Griffiths (Eng) , P Gustafsson (Swe) , M Haastrup (Den) , M Korhonen (Fin) , J Heath (Eng) , M Rodriguez (Arg) , J Hepworth (Eng) , R Steele (Eng) , A Marshall (Eng) , C Moriarty (Irl) , N Colsaerts (Bel) , C Carranza (Arg) ,
71 J Quesne (Fra) , J McLeary (Sco) , J Parry (Eng) , T Cruz (Por) , A Garcia-Heredia (Esp) , M Ruiz (Par) , R Davies (Wal) , C McNamara (Irl) , A Haindl (RSA) , K Jorgensen (Den) , J Olesen (Den) , G Clark (Eng) , P Whiteford (Sco) ,
72 C Devlin (Nir) , F Fritsch (Ger) , A McArthur (Sco) , N Turner (Irl) , J Mommo (Fin) , S Walker (Eng) , R Karlberg (Swe) , S Juul (Den) , L Kennedy (Eng) , R Treis (Ger) , F Calmels (Fra) , T Ferreira (RSA) , D Ulrich (Sui) , J Morrison (Eng) , T Whitehouse (Eng) , T Rice (Irl) , B Mason (Eng) , K Sullivan (Wal) , C Aguilar (Esp) , S Henry (Sco) , D Küpper (Ger) , J Billot (Fra) , A Mellor (Eng) , N Lemke (Swe) , J Abbate (Arg) ,
73 R Giles (Eng) , C Russo (Fra) , M Cort (Eng) , P Del Grosso (Arg) , S Arnold (Aus) , D Higgins (Irl) , P Streeter (Eng) , L James (Eng) , F Svanberg (Sui) , M Murphy (Irl) , M Curtain (Aus) , M Millar (Aus) , J Ruth (Eng) , D Hewan (RSA) , P Relecom (Bel) , R Harris (Eng) , J Little (Eng) , A Butterfield (Eng) , K Webber (Aus) , A Hansen (Den) , J Garcia Pinto (Esp) , L Saltman (Sco) ,
74 D Nouailhac (Fra) , D Wardrop (Eng) , M McDermott (Irl) , G Murray (Sco) , P Bocian (Swe) , D Denison (Eng) , C Gane (Eng) , J Boerdonk (Ned) , G Shaw (Nir) , E Ramsay (Sco) , J Kelly (Irl) , L De Jager (RSA) , A Bernadet (Fra) , M Zions (Aus) , A Murray (Irl) , S Thornton (Irl) , M McGeady (Irl) ,
75 C Phadungsil (Tha) , M Hooper (Eng) , S Jeppesen (Swe) , N Fox (Irl) , M Campbell (Irl) , G Houston (Wal) , R Gonzalez (Arg) , S Surry (Eng) , D Marmion (Eng) , A Mörk (Fra) , M Quiros (Esp) , S Saavedra (Arg) , S Grant (Irl) , M Mackenzie (Eng) , C Selfridge (am) (Irl) , M Durcan (am) (Irl) ,
76 P O'Hanlon (Irl) , S Manley (Wal) , S Robinson (Eng) , R Kilpatrick (Nir) , F Andersson Hed (Swe) , S Bebb (Wal) , J Kehoe (Irl) , M Mills (Eng) , A Oldcorn (Sco) , J Levermore (Eng) , L Westerberg (Swe) , R Santos (Por) , M Ramsdale (Eng) , J Grillon (Fra) , L Brovold (Nor) , M Tullo (Chi) , A Grenier (Fra) ,
77 K Staunton (Eng) , J McCreadie (Sco) , A Willey (Eng) , M Laskey (Wal) , B Evans (Eng) , T Mullally (Irl) , J Moul (Eng) , P Reavey (am) (Irl) , D Reilly (am) (Irl) ,
78 D Froreich (Ger) , J Sköld (Swe) , R McEvoy (Eng) , A Tampion (Aus) , P Purhonen (Fin) ,
79 P O'Keeffe (Irl) , J Wahlqvist (Swe) , L Bond (Wal) , F Praegant (Aut) , V Riu (Fra) , A Bruschi (Ita) ,
80 M Pilkington (Wal) , A Thorpe (Eng) ,
81 O Suhr (Den) ,
83 O Floren (Swe)