Cairns leads captaIN'S PRIZE BY ONE AFTER FIRST ROUND

Kenneth Cairns leads the way after the first round of Michael O’Sullivan’s Captain’s Prize as 35 players went under par despite the strong winds and dry fairways on the long championship course.
Playing off 13, Cairns shot a nett 64 to lead by one om Tommy Lennon (30) with Sean Tuite (16) a shot further back on 66 nett.
Cairns opened his round with a bogey at the first which was followed by two successive pars. Two more bogeys followed at the fourth and fifth before a burst of three pars before a bogey four at the par three ninth.
That saw him complete the opening nine in 40 gross  nett and after a bogey at the 10th three more pars followed at the 11th, 12th and 13th before a birdie three at the short par four 14th.
A bogey at 15 and another par at the long 16th kept Cairns moving nicely and birdie at the par three 17th got his gross score for the inward nine to level par and a five at the last saw him home in 37 for a gross score of 77 and a nett score of 64.
 Lennon shot a 95 gross for a nett score of 65 and his round was greatly helped by four pars at the first, fourth, fifth and eighth as he went out in 44 gross and came home in 51 gross.
Emmet McCabe Savage has been in good form in recent weeks and it showed again as he shot the best gross score of the first round with a two over par 74 that included three birdies at the second, sixth, seventh and sixteenth as well as 12 pars. What was remarkable about his round was that there were no single or double bogeys only two gut-wrenching tripe bogeys at the par three ninth and par four 11th.
180 players qualified for the second round with the cut mark falling on 78 nett and the top 30 have been handed designated starting times for this Sunday’s final round.  

CAPTAIN'S PRIZE LEADERBOARD (after Round 1)
64 – Kenneth Cairns (13)
65 – Tommy Lennon (30)
66 – Sean Tuite (16)
67 - ColmMcCourt (37), Trevor Singleton (28), Dennis Cunningham (13), Brian McDonnell (15).
68 – Alan Joynt (14), Robert Lynch (14), Noel McGuinness (24) 68, Edward Lawrence (18).
69 – Chris Connolly (14), Oliver McDermott (20), Brendan McDonnell (17).
70 – Paul O'Reilly (19), Noel Sweeney (33), Nicholas MacShane (12), John Mulligan (14),  Terry McCann (32), David Smyth (15), Brendan Tinnelly (20), Gareth Halpin (13), Emmet McCabe-Savage (4), Patrick Donaghy (18), Flyn Kiernan (11), George Rogers (30).
71 – Austin Shaw (10), Jack Reid (11), Clem Walshe (4), Vincent Jackson (17), Daragh Farrelly (18), Ciaran Dunne (14), Turlach King (11), Kenneth Lynch (18), Brendan McElarney (37).