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Lyle flying high with an eagle for 66

IRISH SENIOR OPEN: TWO-TIME Major champion Sandy Lyle closed with a superb eagle for an opening round 66 at Carton House yesterday…

Sat Jun 12 2010 - 01:00

IRISH SENIOR OPEN:TWO-TIME Major champion Sandy Lyle closed with a superb eagle for an opening round 66 at Carton House yesterday to set the pace in the Irish Senior Open as he chases his maiden European Senior Tour title.

A sublime three-iron approach shot from 214 yards into the wind on the picturesque finishing hole set up the eagle chance from 12 feet, which the former Open and Masters champion holed to move one stroke clear of Frenchman Marc Farry at the top of the leaderboard.

Lyle had earlier posted five birdies, dropping just one shot when he found the fairway bunker on the fifth hole, and his eagle meant he equalled the course record of six under par shared by Nick O’Hern, Titch Moore, Oliver Wilson and Thomas Bjorn.

“Anytime you finish with an eagle on the last hole and you are four under after 17 is special,” said the Scot. “I was just hoping I could make birdie and I got an eagle out of it. I had two good shots there into 12 feet, into the wind, so it was a great way to finish.

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“I was very happy with the round. The course is playing really good. It is a little easier than when I played on the European Tour here a few years ago. The rough is cut back considerably and we didn’t have too much wind today so it was up for grabs.

“The greens are rolling nice so hopefully we can see some low scoring here this week.”

Lyle’s best performance in three seasons on the European Senior Tour so far is tied sixth in The Aberdeen Brunei Senior Masters but a superb performance at last year’s Masters Tournament, where he finished tied 20th, and an opening round 69 at Augusta National this year showed he remains capable of competing at the highest level.

Leading the home challenge are Jimmy Heggarty, Denis O’Sullivan and Des Smyth, who all posted level par rounds of 72 for a 14-way share of 20th place, alongside Ian Woosnam who led Europe to Ryder Cup glory at the nearby K Club in 2006.

Sam Torrance, the 2002 Ryder Cup captain, eagled the last hole but that was only good enough for a two over par 74, the same as his former Ryder Cup team-mate Eamonn Darcy of Ireland.