McIlroy in hunt after day one of the Irish Open in Royal County Down

Rory McIlroy is in the hunt at the Irish following the end of day one in Royal County Down. He is -3 going into the second day of the tournament. There is two Irishmen that are under par at the end of the day. One of them being 18 year old amateur Seán Keeling who had a bogey free round 1 around a very tough golf course.

The 18 year old played a practice round with legendary Irish golfer Pádraig Harrington and he left the three time major championship winner very impressed. Talking to Irish Golfer, Harrington said:

“Very impressed (with Seán), I played with him and Max Kennedy and Conor. I had three of the young Irish guys, different personalities, different sort of games.

“Obviously Seán is a young lad, only 18, a great ball-striker. Just I think he doesn’t look like he’s outgrown the game at 18 years of age. So he has plenty of time to keep growing and learning as a player. There’s no hurry there."

McIlroy started to charge at the end of his round on round 1 where he had birdies on 16, 17, and 18 to end his round at 3 under par and just 2 shots off the leader, Englishman Todd Clements.

Conor Purcell is the other Irishman who is under par after day 1, sitting at -1 after a steady round.

Shane Lowry has a bit of work to do if he wants a repeat of his sensational win as amateur in 2009, as the Offaly man is sitting at +1 at the end of proceedings.