British Amateur: Hume starts well but Sharvin and Dunne under pressure
Jack Hume (Naas) made a great start at Carnoustie. Archive picture by Pat Cashman
Naas' Jack Hume knows all his season lacks is a win and he made a great start in the biggest event of them all with a four under 68 at Carnoustie leaving him alone in fourth after the first round of strokeplay qualifying for the Amateur Championship.
The race to make the top 64 who qualify for Wednesday's matchplay stages requires the field to play one round each at Carnoustie and Panmure.
England’s Alfie Plant, 22, stormed to the first round lead with a course record-breaking seven-under-par 63 at Panmure to lead by two from Scotland’s Grant Forrest and New Zealander Ryan Chisnall, who both posted five-under-par 67’s at Carnoustie.
Belvoir Park's Gareth Lappin shot a 71 at Carnoustie to be tied 25th while Colm Campbell (Warrenpoint) and Conor O’Rourke (Naas) who shot level par 70s at Panmure to lie tied 44th, the other 15 Irish players in the field are outside the cut mark.
The strugglers include the in-form Cormac Sharvin from Ardglass, a Walker Cup aspirant, who is tied for 161st following a four over 76 at Carnoustie.
Greystones' Paul Dunne, another player with ambitions of selection for the Walker Cup, is tied 129th after a three over 73 at Panmure.
Hume, 21, is nicely placed after a 68 that featured an eagle three at the 12th as well as five birdies and three bogeys in an eventful round at Carnoustie.
“I’m very happy with one-over through eight holes and five-under-par for the last ten,” Hume said. “I had a strange start, birdie, bogey, birdie but hit some nice iron shots and can hopefully carry that on tomorrow.
"It’s meant to be windy tomorrow so it was definitely a scoring day today. I have had a consistent season so far, so I’m hoping for a win or two over the rest of the season.”
A clutch of players finished on three-under-par, including Englishmen Ashton Turner, Jimmy Mullen, Leon Fricker and Harry Hall.
A field of 288 players, representing 30 different countries, will play two qualifying rounds of stroke play at both Carnoustie and Panmure before the leading 64 and ties take part in the match play stages at Carnoustie. The 36-hole final will be played on Saturday.
The second stroke play round gets underway at 7am tomorrow. For live scoring from the championship please click here.
Amateur Championship, Carnoustie and Panmure (Top 64 after 36 holes to qualify)
Carnoustie (par 72)
68 Jack Hume (Naas) 4th
71 Gareth Lappin (Belvour Park) T25
73 Stuart Grehan (Tullamore) T73
75 Dermot McElroy (Ballymena) T129
76 Cormac Sharvin (Ardglass) T161
78 Robin Dawson (Faithlegg); Sean Flanagan (Co Sligo) T229
83 Richard Bridges (Stackstown) T280
Panmure (Par 70)
70 Colm Campbell (Warrenpoint), Conor O’Rourke (Naas) T44
71 Gavin Moynihan (The Island), Alexander Wilson (Portmarnock) T73
72 Geoff Lenehan (Portmarnock); Alex Gleeson (Castle); Stephen Watts (Cairndhu) T104
73 Paul Dunne (Greystones); John-Ross Galbraith (Whitehead) T129
75 Paul McBride (The Island) T195
76 Daniel Holland (Castle) T229
