Carey shoots his third 11-under round in five months - 61 in Vilamoura
David Carey. Credit: Tristan Jones
Castleknock's David Carey looks ready for another big season in the professional ranks after he fired an 11-under par round for the third time in less five months on the Portugal Pro Tour on the Algarve.
The 23-year old blasted a bogey-free 61 in the second round of the Dom Pedro Victoria Open, reeling off nine birdies in his last 11 holes to go into Wednesday’s final round just two shots behind leader Ashton Turner on nine-under par.
Going low is nothing new for Carey, who shot an 11-under 57, the lowest round ever recorded by an Irish professional, en route to his maiden win the Alps Tour’s Cervino Open, 2,000 metres above sea level last September.
David Carey. Picture: Alps Tour
He proved that was no fluke when he went on to shoot an 11-under 61 in the second round at the First Stage of the Qualifying School at Bogogno Golf Resor just four weeks later and finished as joint winner of the tournament on 24-under par.
There was no altitude at play this time as he made 11 birdies on the Arnold Palmer designed, 6,600 metre Victoria Golf Course (7,200 yards) which has hosted the European Tour’s Portugal Masters since 2007.
Starting on the back nine, he birdied the 11th, 15th, 17th and 18th to go out in 32, then came home in 29 by sandwiching birdies at the first and ninth between a five-birdie run from the third.
The course, which plays as a par-71 for the European Tour, yielded the circuit’s first 59 for Oliver Fisher in 2018.
Carey would eventually fail to make it through the Second Stage of Q-School at Desert Springs and narrowly fail to win Alps Tour promotion to the Challenge Tour.
Having won the Boys Home Internationals with the likes of Paul McBride, Ronan Mullarney, Sean Flanagan, Robin Dawson and reigning Amateur champion James Sugrue, he left school before his Leaving and turned professional at 18 in 2015.
It’s been a gradual learning curve for Carey since then but having reunited with coach Shane O’Grady last year, he looks ready to step up a notch in 2020 and will be looking forward to the start of the Alps Tour season in Egypt next month