Edmondstown’s Thomas Abom made the first hole-in-one of his career and fired an eight-under 64 and take a one-stroke halfway lead in the Flogas Irish Amateur Open at Seapoint.
The 2024 Irish Close champion was four under for his round when he came to the 17th, his eighth, and promptly holed out from 168 yards.
“I was playing with Conor Stapleton, and he said, ‘Go in’ as I hit the green and it stopped, then trickled on in the hole, and I completely lost it,” said Abom, who got to nine under with three holes to go but dropped a shot coming in.
“I started running around, crazy, screaming. So yeah, that's probably the highlight of my golfing career today, that hole-in-one, unbelievable.”
After winning a strokeplay edition of the Irish Close at Dun Laoghaire two years ago, Abom enjoys contending.
"Obviously, I can draw back on that experience from a few years ago, but I'm just happy to keep putting myself in these positions,” he said. “This is where you want to be, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
He leads by a shot on 11-under par from first round leader Stephen Coulter from Warrenpoint, who shot 70, and Roganstown’s Patrick Keeling, who fired a blistering, course record 62 in the morning.
The University of Louisville star birdied the 13th, 14th and 16th before making an eagle three at the 18th to turn in five-under 31.
He went on to make five birdies on the back nine—at the second, third, sixth, eighth and ninth—in a sensational 10-under par effort and credited psychologist Séan McGonigle
“I’ve been working with him for years, and he's been just brilliant, getting me out of technical thoughts and more into playing, reacting to shots,” Keeling said. “I feel like I just really got into that today and just trusted in my processes, stayed in rhythm and didn't get too far ahead of myself.”
County Louth’s Gerard Dunne and Abom’s brother Liam were three shots off the pace on eight-under, while defending champion Stuart Grehan was five shots off the pace in a tie for sixth after making an eagle, five birdies, four bogeys and a double bogey in a rollercoaster 71.
At El Prat in Barcelona, Denmark’s Lucas Bjerregaard and Italy’s Stefano Mazzoli shot five-under 67s to lead the DP World Tour’s Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship by one stroke from South Africa’s Yurav Premlall on 11 under at halfway.
But the scoring was even hotter in the Italian Challenge Open on the HotelPlanner Tour, where American Jhared Hack added a 66 to his opening 62 to lead by four shots from former Ryder Cup player Chris Wood (64) on 16 under.
Just two of the nine-strong Irish contingent made the four under par cut at Golf Nazionale in Viterbo.
Galway’s Ronan Mullarney shot 69 to share 27th on six under as Mallow’s James Sugrue birdied the last to qualify on the mark, also after a 69.
At the PGA Tour’s ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic, Seamus Power carded a one-over 72 to sit inside the projected cut line on two-under par.
Flogas Irish Amateur Open, Seapoint
After 36 holes
133 Thomas Abom (Edmondstown) 69 64
134 Patrick Keeling (Roganstown) 72 62, Stephen Coulter (Warrenpoint) 64 70
136 Gerard Dunne (Co. Louth) 69 67, Liam Abom (Edmondstown) 65 71
138 Dylan Shaw-Radford (Huddersfield GC) 72 66, Darragh Flynn (Carton House) 71 67, David Reddan (Castleknock) 71 67, Tom Hughes (Formby Golf Club) 69 69, Stuart Grehan (Co. Louth) 67 71
139 Conor Stapleton (Westport) 70 69, David Howard (Fota Island) 70 69
140 Quentin Carew (The Heritage) 73 67, Ethan Roos (Thorndon Park) 72 68, Chris Somers (Murcar Links Golf Club) 70 70
141 Luke Kelly (Dunfanaghy) 75 66, Dylan Keating (Seapoint) 74 67, Eoin Murphy (Dundalk) 72 69, Ryan Griffin (The Royal Dublin) 71 70, Lewis Gowdy (Bangor) 71 70, Isaac Oliver (Glasson Golf Club) 71 70, Cian Harkin (The Island) 70 71
142 Andrew Mulholland (Castlerock golf club) 73 69, Paul Coughlan (Castleknock) 72 70, Finlay Galloway (The St Andrews Golf Club) 72 70, Harry O Hara (Clandeboye) 72 70, Robert Abernethy (Dun Laoghaire) 72 70
143 Greg Holmes (Royal Birkdale) 75 68, Patrick Curran (Edmondstown) 75 68, William O’Riordan (Greystones Golf Club) 73 70, Oscar Murphy (Royal Portrush) 72 71, Bryn Thomas (Cardigan Golf club) 71 72, Conor Clarke (Balmoral) 70 73
144 Tadhg murphy (Millicent Golf Club) 74 70, James Walsh (Douglas) 74 70, Joe O Neill (Berehaven) 74 70, Bruce MacDonald (Lisburn) 74 70, Jonathan Keane (Lahinch) 74 70, Charlie Rusbridge (Colne Valley Golf Club) 73 71, Ian Lynch (Rosslare) 73 71, Gary Collins (Rosslare) 72 72, Alexander Brand (Golf Club Bern) 72 72, Paul O Hanlon (Carton House) 72 72, Dylan Holmes (Greystones) 71 73, Alex Kerins (Carton House) 71 73, Matthew McClean (Malone) 70 74, Barry O’Connell (Douglas) 70 74, Mark Muldoon (Royal Dublin) 69 75, John Doyle (Fota Island) 69 75
145 James O’Rourke (Naas) 75 70, Harry Gillivan (Portmarnock) 74 71, Aodhagan Brady (Co Sligo) 73 72, Ewen Farquhar (New St Andrews) 73 72, Jordan Boles (Carton House) 72 73, Padraig O Dochartaigh (Gweedore Golf Club) 71 74, Sean Keeling (Roganstown) 71 74, Adam Fahey (Portmarnock) 71 74, Jack McDonnell (Royal Dublin) 70 75, Charlie McDonnell (Concra Wood) 70 75, John William Burke (Ballyhaunis) 70 75
146 Rory Gallagher (Galway Bay) 75 71, Conor Hickey (Dooks) 75 71, Patrick Martin (Carrick-On-Shannon) 75 71, Brian Doran (Millicent) 75 71, Ellis Kinnaird (Mississippi Golf Club) 74 72, Harris Fleming (Galgorm Castle Golf Club) 73 73, Eoin Sullivan (Portmarnock) 73 73, Ryan Murray (Balmoral Golf Club) 72 74
147 William Walshe (Delgany) 75 72, Thomas Beaumont (Bangor Golf Club) 74 73, Mark Cadden (Roganstown Golf Club) 72 75, Kai Laing (Broomieknowe Golf Club) 72 75
148 Keith Egan (Carton House) 77 71, Robbie Cannon (Balbriggan) 75 73, Michael Roche (Harpenden Common Golf Club) 75 73, Aaron Ryan (Thurles) 73 75
149 Kiron Gribble (Dunbar) 76 73, Louis Goodman (Co. Louth) 76 73, James Fox (Portmarnock) 74 75
150 Seán McLoughlin (County Sligo) 80 70, Aaron Naughton (Hermitage GC) 79 71, Shane Mcdermott (PGA National Slieve Russell) 78 72, Ciaran Murphy (Grange golf club) 77 73, Sean David (Pyle and kenfig) 77 73, Evan Farrell (Co. Louth GC) 76 74, Fergal Coyle (Athenry) 76 74, James Hewitt (Tandragee Golf Club) 76 74, William Beatty (Royal Portrush Golf Club) 75 75, Harry Thomas (Eaton) 75 75, Daniel O'Brien (County Louth) 74 76, Kyle McCarron (North West Golf Club) 74 76
151 Stephen Barker (Mourne) 82 69, Finn Jolly (Dun Laoghaire) 81 70, Luke Furlong (Wexford Golf Club) 79 72, David Kitt (Athenry) 78 73, David Shiel (Enniscrone) 77 74, Anthony Nadal (Golf de Biarritz Le Phare) 77 74, Neil patterson (Baltinglass) 76 75, Paddy Quill (Cork golf club) 75 76, Ben Cahill (Dundalk) 74 77, Jamie Anderson (Greystones) 72 79
152 Caelan Coleman (Galway bay golf resort) 79 73, John Moran (Portmarnock Golf Club) 78 74, Patrick Tuffy (Strandhill) 76 76, Sean Barry (Fota Island) 75 77
153 Ross Latimer (Knock) 80 73, Cole Henderson (Galgorm Castle Golf Club) 80 73, Colm Campbell (Warrenpoint) 79 74, Shane McGlynn (Portmarnock) 78 75, Mikkel Bergum Johansen (Drøbak GK) 78 75, George Holland (Southport and Ainsdale) 77 76, Luke Cunningham (Galway Bay) 76 77
154 Harry Watkins (Royal Porthcawl) 81 73, Edward Reed (Royal Birkdale Golf Club) 78 76, lorenzo fior (Golf club Asiago) 78 76, Conor McCarthy (Headfort) 77 77, James Maginn (Mourne) 74 80
155 Lorcan O'Connor (Edmondstown Golf Club) 78 77
156 Mikie Grealy (Galway Bay) 79 77, Harley Phipps (Co. Louth) 79 77
157 Cian Poland (Elm Park) 82 75, James Everard (Kilkenny) 81 76, Kevin Robinson (Castlewarden Golf Club) 79 78, Conor Crudden (Newbridge golf club) 77 80, Sean Reddy (Douglas) 76 81, Danny Lyne (Lahinch) 75 82
159 Matthew Dodd (St.Anne’s Golf Club) 81 78, Robert Walsh (Douglas Golf Club) 80 79, Michael Green (Greenore) 78 81
164 David O'Malley (Black Bush Golf Club) 80 84
166 Eoin Magill (East Clare) 85 81
DNF James Temple (Portmarnock)
Article Link: Abom feeling ace at Seapoint - News - Irish Golf Desk