Filippo Celli starts fourth with Rory McIlroy

09/12/2024 06:09 PM

The first round of the 2024 Irish Open has just ended. The traditional tournament, which this year returns to the Royal County Down Golf Club after nine years, has a very good Todd Clements as its first leader. For the Englishman, an eagle at hole 18 (valid for him today as the ninth hole) made the difference, as did the birdies at 7 and 8 to find the -5 (66 shots) of Thursday.

In second place, one shot behind, the Finnish Sami Välimäki and the Spanish Alejandro del Rey, but behind them the real news comes from Italy, with Filippo Celli who grabs the fourth position at -3 with a nice round of three birdies. With him also Rory McIlroy (the Northern Irishman scores six birdies, but it is the three bogeys that deny him the leadership); the quintet is completed with the South African Thriston Lawrence and the English Marcus Armitage and Will Enfer.

The list of ninths at -2 is extremely large: there are Paul Waring, Daniel Brown, Oliver Wilson, Laurie Canter and Jordan Smith in the England quota. With them the South Africans Erik van Rooyen and Brandon Stone, the Danish Soren Kjeldsen (winner right here in 2015), the Scotsman Ewen Ferguson and the Frenchman Ugo Coussaud.

Given the course's fairly visible difficulty, it is important to see how 50 players managed to stay under or even with par. In particular, in the 20th place group (very large) at -1, Matteo Manassero finds space, while Renato Paratore closes at 33rd in 71. Andrea Pavan and Francesco Laporta remain in the running to pass the cut, both at +2 with 66th place, while Edoardo Molinari, 120th at +4, will have several more difficulties, as will Lorenzo Scalise, 138th at +5. Guido Migliozzi was expected at the start, but the Vicenza native gave up this week at the last minute due to flu. This is all about the first round of the Irish Open in Royal County Down Golf Club.