Dublin teenager Seán Keeling enjoyed a dream start on his Amgen Irish Open debut in Royal County Down on Thursday.
The 17-year-old played steady and composed golf in tough links conditions, ending his day as one of only two players not to record a bogey.
The Roganstown player played par golf for seventeen holes before rolling in a fifteen footer for birdie to finish with a flourish, matching the feat of Italian Felippo Celi, who also went blemish free.
Darkness was descending on Newcastle at that stage but the highly rated Keeling was a bright spark for the home challenge, ending his day with an opening round 70 on -1.
Keeling's consistency was remarkable as the wind and difficult pin positions caused havoc for some of the world's top golfers, with a 66 the best score of the day by England's Todd Clements.
Rory McIlroy also impressed with a 68 as he and Keeling were the only Irish players to return under par scores.
Day Two
The scoring picked up in the early stages of Day Two with Shane Lowry making a burst to finish on -1.
The lead had been stretched to -8 by Spaniard Alejandro Del Ray at one stage, but he fell back with Rory McIlroy ending up on -4, one shot behind new leader Laurie Canter. An eagle on the tenth rocketed McIlroy into the reckoning and he closed out with a 70.
EAGLE for Rory McIlroy! The Holywood man is now two shots back in a tie for second place after 10 holes of his second round.
📺 Watch LIVE on RTÉ2 & the RTÉplayer#RTEgolf #IrishOpen pic.twitter.com/R0Er9W5dVm— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 13, 2024
Keeling also maintained his consistent form, level par for the tournament after ten holes of his second round.
Dubbed 'the next Rory McIlroy,' the rising star only recently took up a golfing scholarship in Texas Tech, the alma mater of world number five Ludvig Aberg.
The 2023 Scottish Boys Open and 2024 Irish Boys Amateur Open champion has made a blistering start to his career and is deemed one of the brightest young prospects in Irish golf.
He helped Europe to Junior Ryder Cup glory last year with his brother Patrick also on a golfing scholarship in America.
Keeling played a practice round with Padraig Harrington earlier in the week, with the three-time major champion advising him 'to stay resilient.'
"He just said to stay patient this week and stay resilient," Keeling told Irish Golfer.
28 September 2023; Sean Keeling of Europe with his medal after the medials for the Junior Ryder Cup were presented during the opening ceremony of the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome, Italy. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
"He said there will be ups and downs just part of the game. Just seeing him and how he carries himself and goes about his business is really interesting.
"I’m too young to remember his major wins but I have watched them back. He’s definitely an inspiration for any Irish player," said Keeling.
