A little bit of Bubbles magic may have helped Cormac Sharvin on his way to a brilliant 66 in only his second Irish Open.
A pro of four years after playing in the Walker Cup, Sharvin was unfortunate to miss out a European Tour place this year in Q School.
But with three top 10 finishes in his last five Challenge Tour events, he could make it to the big stage soon.
And, after an opening salvo of five birdies and one bogey in Lahinch, he revealed that he's been relaxing by picking up the hurl this week - but not just any hurl.
The Ardglass pro hurled for his club, Kilclief, at full-forward and at underage level for Down before the golf got serious, and he's been using one of mercurial Tipperary forward John 'Bubbles' O'Dwyer's hurls in the county Clare town.
"My performance coach (Ed Coughlan, who worked with the Mayo footballers) gave me Bubble's hurl," he explained.
"I was down with Paul McBride, who was a good hurler. We've been pucking around a bit.”
The adrenaline was flowing as he moved up the leaderboard yesterday.
"I see Padraig and Shane have got off to a quick start so hopefully we can have a few Irish up there for the weekend and get the crowds out and supporting us," said the softly-spoken 26-year-old.
"I just committed to seeing to every shot and taking every shot because if it hard obviously playing a bigger event but it is nice to just stay calm and hit your shots.
"That's what I did and the 66 was just a product of that.”
But fellow Ulsterman Graeme McDowell may have to shoot a 66 after the disappointment of an opening round 72, with the "killer" moment being the bogey on 11 that halted his momentum.
"Not a lot of positives after that," said McDowell. "It seemed that every tee shot finished as badly as it could.
"The quirks and nuances of this course, it’s very like Portrush the way the greens are shaped, the areas running up into them, it’s great prep.
"I need to sharpen up a wee bit tomorrow, make a few birdies. It's not like there's anything destructive in there. One birdie isn’t going to cut it".
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