Joining the field for of home golfers at the Irish Open in Ballyliffin is Greystones' Paul Dunne, who spoke to Nathan Murphy about his play on his first 18 holes and how much the support influences him.
"The conditions were good, The course is just firm and fiery. I wasn’t putting myself in position off the tee, so coming in from the rough it’s very difficult to control the ball. I made it difficult on myself," he said.
"To get in at 1-over isn’t too bad. But obviously I wouldn’t have taken it at the start of the day. I was just trying to put a few good shots together in a row. My short game feels good, my putting feels really nice. I just need to give myself more chances to attack flags rather than playing defensively.
Nathan then asked Paul if he would go to the range after this to correct his errors and here’s what he had to say: "I’ll go to the range now. I’ve got to be up at 5AM tomorrow. I hadn’t been missing shots the way I’ve been missing them today. It kind of took me by surprise and I didn’t know what tendency was causing it. It’s no big deal I hit a few nicer shots towards the end.
He also spoke positively about the support as he plays a home tournament.
"The support is great every time I’ve played in Ireland. The home crowds really do lift you up. It makes it more frustrating when you make mistakes cause you know everyone wants you to do well. I kind of just need to get out of that a little bit and focus on what I’m doing and hopefully that will give them reason to cheer," said Dunne.
"It’s great playing the Irish open. There are elements to it that are more difficult than other events I’ll just have to deal with it better .Hopefully put a good round together tomorrow."
Stephen Kierans
