Lucas Herbert was the man of the moment after the opening round of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open on Thursday as the Australian stormed to the top of the leaderboard with a blistering eight-under-par 64 in Kilkenny.
The Bendigo-born 25-year-old was brought up in the outback but he is well known in the UAE as he won the 2020 Omega Dubai Desert Classic.
It looks like he may add to his Dubai-related accolades at Mount Juliet as he leads the pack by a single stroke going into Friday’s second round.
However, he will need to be on the top of his game as he has 18 stars breathing down his neck and ready to strike.
Herbert struck nine birdies on his way to the top. He had a birdie-bogey start from hole 10, but marched on from their with a brilliant back nine of 31 to sign for a 64. Johannes Veerman of the United States clung on to his coat-tails with a 65 that included a flawless round and seven birdies.
Scotland’s Grant Forrest was lurking in third with a solid 66, despite a wobble on the 13th.
The pack beyond that is fascinating as (deep breath) Martin Kaymer, Thomas Detry, Andy Sullivan, Nicolas Colsaerts, Thorbjorn Olesen, the UAE’s Adri Arnaus, Gregory Havret, Sean Crocker, Jason Scrivener, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Race to Dubai champ Tommy Fleetwood, Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston, Dale Whitnell, Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez and Richie Ramsey all lurk only a few strokes away.
Colm Moriarty, a former Challenge Tour winner back in 2007, was the best of the home-grown players on four-under par, while Open Champion Shane Lowry carded a two-under 70 and four-time major winner Rory McIlroy opened his account with a 72.
After his stunning start, a smiling Herbert said: “It was a bit of a slow start. Even sort of the first eight holes, I birdied 15, made a nice putt and then 17, hit it in there pretty tight for eagle and missed it. Even the first eight holes felt a little bit slow out there, only hitting the two-ball with Laurie, and we just both felt like we are hitting it quite nice and couldn’t make any putts.
“I made a really long one on 18 for birdie and that kind of sparked things and got things going. Was able to play really nice that last nine holes. Felt like I was trying to get to 5- or 6-under and I didn’t really want to try and just attack really, really hard.
“It was just try and hit the ball in the right spots, give yourself some looks on the greens and felt like if I could get to 5- or 6-under that would be a really good day. A few more rolled in and I got to eight.
“You can see in the fairways, even walking up the 9th there, starting to get some fairways that look like some pretty typical Irish Open stuff. It’s always fun when you come out and play some firm, fast golf courses. Coming from America, the rough is not as thick as probably been used to but it definitely up enough to make you interested out there.
“It’s a little bit tight in spots as well where you’re not taking driver and just sending it. You have to play to some positions. Second group out we were, the greens were unbelievable. I can’t remember putting on greens that nice. It was definitely good to get out early and take advantage of that. It will be interesting to see tomorrow afternoon how they are playing, but golf course is really nice.”
