Second Ace, New Tour Record & Magnum Of Champers Fails To Lift Dunne’s French Open Spirits.

Not even a Tour record for the quickest pair of aces by a rookie could lessen Paul Dunne’s disappointment in missing the cut in the 100th French Open.

Dunne holed out with a 4-iron at the eighth hole in an eventual round of a 78 for a shock seven over par tally and just three days after finishing top of the class for a second year running at an Open Championship qualifier at Woburn.

The ace was Dunne’s second on Tour after holing out at the 15th hole at Kingsbarns and in the first round as a pro in a maiden European Tour event.

And Dunne has now managed two aces within the space of his first Tour event as a pro and a 16th.

However, the Greystone golfer’s hole-in-one at the National course came on the back of starting double bogey, double bogey, boyey, par, double bogey, par, bogey and then acing the eighth hole.

Dunne then recorded seven straight pars to end his first French Open birdie, par and double bogey, and after having started on Thursday with an opening hole double bogey.

Unfortunately, for Dunne the prize of a gleaming new BMW is on offer at the 16th and with organisers presenting him with a magnum of champers.

Paul Dunne proudly holds aloft a magnum of Moet and Chandon for the second ace of his pro career. (Photo - www.europeantour.com)

Paul Dunne proudly holds aloft a magnum of Moet and Chandon for the second ace of his pro career. (Photo – www.golfbytourmiss.com)

 

“I’ve actually had six holes-in-one, two on the Tour while the other four were just in practice,” he said.

“So while it was nice to have another hole-in-one I am feeling a bit tired as I’ve had a lot of golf lately but then that should not be an excuse as I hit loads and loads of good shots these two days.

“Usually if I shoot scores like I have here in France I could take some positives but I just hit so many bad shots at the wrong time and paid the penalty.

“I started with a double on Thursday which wasn’t nice and then got off to a nightmare start today and walked off ending a double today

“And on this golf course, if you hit a loose or a bad shot you are going to pay a heavy penalty and I found that out in putting too many balls into the water.”

As Dunne is not into next week’s Scottish Open it means a week at home working on his game before heading next weekend to Royal Troon, and for a rookie pro remarkably his third straight Open Championship.

“I don’t see any point in going over to Troon to the Sunday before The Open as you would get sick of the sight of the place before the tournament finally got underway,” he said.

“So I will just prepare for it like any other tournament.

“Also I’ve got plenty of family and friends coming over so I am sure we can crack open this bottle of champagne while we’re over there.”

Unlike many in The Open field, Dunne will be no stranger to Royal Troon having contested the 2012 British Amateur and won that year by Ulsterman Paul Dunbar.

 

 

 

 



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