Law and Forrest in the mix with 70s

 at Irish Challenge

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

Oscar Lengden continued his winning form from last week as he fired an opening round of 68 to lead the Irish Challenge hosted by Mount Wolseley Hotel, Spa and Golf Resort by one shot.

The Swede took a maiden victory in dramatic style at the Bridgestone Challenge and, just four days later, showed little sign of fatigue as he made seven birdies – more than anyone else – on a tough scoring day in Carlow to move one ahead of Jacopo Vecchi Fossa in second place.

Lengden has been on rare form in the last few weeks, with back-to-back career-best results on the European Tour preceding his Challenge Tour win in England, and, now 14th on the Road to Oman, his confidence is high.

“It all seems quite easy right now!” said the 25 year old. “It was a funny day today because I didn’t really play that well, but the putter is still very hot so I’m just going to keep rolling the rock.

“I feel like I need to hit the ball better than I did today. I got some lucky bounces, but it feels great – the confidence is up there and I can only see good shots at the moment."

Italy’s Vecchi Fossa is the nearest challenger, with a pair of Scots, Edinburgh's Grant Forrest and Aberdeen's David Law, sharing third spot on two under par 70 with Englishman Charlie Ford and Darius van Driel of the Netherlands.

 

Scores after Round One:
par 72

68 O Lengden (Swe) 
69 J Vecchi Fossa (Ita)  
70 D Law (Sco) , G Forrest (Sco) , C Ford (Eng) , D Van Driel (Netherlands). 
71 F Maccario (Ita) , G Schoeb (Fra) , M Baldwin (Eng) , J Guerrier (Fra) , M Orrin (Eng) 
72 J Sarasti (Spn) , J Lando Casanova (Fra) , C Sordet (Fra) , C Koepka (USA) , C Braeunig (Ger) , R McCarthy (Australia) , S Brown (Eng) , N Lindstrom (Swe) , G Boyd (Eng) , M Madsen (Denmark) , M Laskey (Wales) , D Carey (Ire) , M Ovesen (Denmark) , O Lindell (Finland) , D Loftus (Ire) , H Joannes (Belgium)  
73 C Del Moral (Spn), J Bower (Eng) , J Mullen (Eng) , J Van Der Vaart (Netherlands) , J Arnoy (Norway) , M Collins (Eng) , R Saxton (Netherlands) , J Kunzenbacher (Ger) , A Kristiansen (Norway) , A Bernadet (Fra) , K Samooja (Finland) , N Von Dellingshausen (Ger) , G King (Eng)  
74 D Gaunt (Australia) , T Shadbolt (Eng) , M Wolf (Ger) , G Moynihan (Ire) , O Rozner (Fra) , C O'Rourke (Irl) , M Fenasse (Fra) , T Perrot (Fra) , J Dantorp (Swe) , B Poke (Denmark) , J Maw (Eng) , W Enefer (Eng) , J Wrisdale (Eng) , M Nixon (Eng) , D Fox (Australia) , N O'Briain (Ire) , M Trappel (Austria) , L Acikalin (am) (Turkey) 
75 R Kellett (Sco) , C Sharvin (NIre) , B Hellgren (Swe) , R McGee (Ire) , R Enoch (Wales) , J Makitalo (Finland) , K Johannessen (Norway) , E Cuartero Blanco (spn) , T Santos Silva (Portugal) , M Iten (Switz) , J Harrison (Eng) , C Selfridge (NIre) , P Eriksson (Swe) , J McDonald (Sco) , H Smart (Eng) 
76 D Boote (Wales) , P Martin Benavides (Spn) , R McNamara (Ire) , L Johnson (Eng) , A Wennstam (Swe) , A Zemmer (Ita) , H Casey (Eng) , R Kilpatrick (NIre) , S Jeppesen (Swe) , J Godwin (Eng) , T Lawrence (SAf) , R Davies (Wales) , L Nemecz (Austria) , T Murray (Eng) , S Grehan (am) (Ire)  
77 D Osorio (Spn) , F Bergamaschi (Ita) , H Rönneblad (Swe) , N Johansson (Swe) , N Cunningham (Eng) , L Robinson (Eng) , M McGeady (Ire) , J Doherty (Sco) , J McLeary (Sco) , M Perry (NZ) , B Paolini (USA) , J Carlota (Portugal) , R Dawson (am) (Ire) ,
78 B Rusch (Switz) , H Bjornstad (Norway) , C Sutherland (Sco) , N McCarthy (Eng) , A Pavan (Ita) , A Bolognesi (Ita) , M Decottignies-Lafon (Fra) , J Allan (Eng) , B Robinson (Eng) , P Howard (Eng) , B Hafthorsson (Iceland)  
79 J Senior (Eng) , L Galliano (Switz) , G Watremez (Belgium) , G Hurley (Ire) , J Hopkins (Ire) , M Laier (Ger) , J Ramos (Portugal) , P Imondi (USA) , F Daux (Fra) , G Piris Mateu (Spn) 
80 S Ward (Ire) , B Eccles (Australia) , P Tarver-Jones (Eng) , S Piaget (Mon) , J Osorio Valencia (Spn) , B Easton (SAf) , C Campbell Jnr (am) (Ire)
81 K Phelan (Ire) , T Cruz (Portugal) , M O'Mahony (Ire) , R Caron (Netherlands), P Gal (Czecho) , M Lampert (Ger)  
82 M Mohr (Eng) , B Neil (Sco) , M Murphy (Ire) , C Mivis (Belgium) , C Crowley (Ire)
83 P Kinnear (Eng) , L Buijs (Netherlands) , M Haastrup (Denmark) , R James (Wales) , M Power (am) (Ire)
85 J Friesz (Slovakia) 
87 L Zenere (Ita) , O Telli (am) (Turkey).
89 M Berniere (Fra) ,