Cullen slips into lead as Goulding has a horror

Niall Goulding, who managed a sparkling three-under-par 69 in Saturday's opening round, descended to the opposite end of the spectrum at Baltray yesterday, amassing a horrendous 84.

Conditions had moderated slightly yesterday for all but the early starters - they had to contend with misty rain - with the easterly wind giving the picturesque links only a mild buffeting. Certainly one could not ascribe such a 15-shot swing to the elements.

To Goulding's credit, the 32year-old former professional was candid about his failure. "I suppose I must have been lucky on Saturday. I got worse and worse as the round went on."

His card illustrated a general haemorrhaging rather than one or two costly errors. The Portmarnock player began with a double bogey, failed to muster a single birdie, and the final ignominy came with a bogey at the downwind, par five, 18th.

In mitigation, Goulding has played very little golf recently because of accountancy exams, and may attribute a lack of practice and consistency to his sharply contrasting rounds.

While he toiled, Royal Belfast's Richard McDowell offered an ironic contrast by improving on his opening round of 87 by 15 shots for a 72. But it was all to no avail as he missed the cut.

Gary Cullen was the main beneficiary of Goulding's misfortune, shooting a one-under-par 72 to go with an opening 73 to claim a two-shot lead over Andrew Morris (Belvoir Park), former Leinster Youths panelist Jim Mulready (Castle), and the two-time former champion, Bangor's Garth McGimpsey.

Cullen, runner-up to Michael Hoey at the recent Irish Amateur Championship in Royal Dublin, outlined the key to his success. "I drove the ball well and kept it in play."

The 6 ft 5 in, 22-year-old from Beaverstown, who will travel to the Qualifying School for the European Tour later in the year, managed five birdies, beginning at the long second hole, where a drive and six-iron allowed him the luxury of a two-putt birdie.

He dipped further under the card at the sixth by hitting an eight-iron to six feet. A drive and two-iron just short of the green at the long seventh allowed him to putt up the slope before holing from eight feet. A six-iron to four feet set up a birdie on the 15th, while at the next hole Cullen drove to within a few feet of the green and pitched dead.

Mulready and Morris head the challenge from the younger generation, but casting a long shadow in the warm sunshine was 42-yearold McGimpsey, who doggedly defied a few putting foibles to cobble together a gritty two-over-par 75.

Despite a double bogey on the opening hole, the Bangor man refused to buckle. "I drove into the sand, hacked out, hit a seven-iron over the green, pitched short and two-putted.

"Given that sort of start I think level par from there in was very good. I thought the conditions made putting particularly difficult at times," he said. McGimpsey managed two birdies, at the third and 13th.

One shot further back is another two-time winner, Portmarnock's Adrian Morrow, who shot a level par 73.

Less fortunate were Irish internationals David Dunne (Co Sligo) and Pat Murray (Tipperary), who missed the cut, a fate shared by other notable casualties in Irish and Connacht Youths champion Nigel Howley, Philip Purdy, David Mortimer, Stephen Moloney, Stuart Paul and Dale Baker.

The field has been reduced to 50 for today's final 36 holes.

Neil Coles, the 63-year-old veteran of eight Ryder Cups, won the Philips PFA Seniors Classic at the first hole of a dramatic sudden death play-off with Northern Ireland's David Jones at Meon Valley in Southampton.

Coles pipped the 51-year-old former PGA club champion with a 20-foot birdie putt on the short par-four 18th.

Coles had closed with a similar putt 15 minutes earlier for a 67 to tie on 13-under-par 203 with Jones, who also birdied from three feet for his 68.

"Those two putts were just fantastic," said Coles, who was registering his 11th seniors victory for a total of 42 in a career spanning nearly five decades. He has also won all three play-offs he has been involved in.