For the second weekend in a row, both of West Waterford's professional golfers are walking the fairways this weekend.
Gary Hurley is already underway at the Singapore Classic on the DP World Tour, while Seamus Power kicks off his weekend at the Phoenix Open later this evening.
There is plenty of Irish interest in Singapore in the early goings, with Northern Ireland's Tom McKibbin leading by a shot after the first round, while Cork man John Murphy is also in attendance, albeit struggling for scores and finding himself out the back of the leaderboard.
Hurley fired an opening round of -3 69 at Laguna National. The flat, tree-lined parkland course offers plenty of challenges with water in play on no less than 10 holes but Hurley was well able to adapt this morning and now finds himself sharing 28th ahead of day two. He is just five shots off the pace of his fellow Irish man McKibbin.
The Waterford man began from the first tee this morning, playing with Christoffer Bring and Freddy Scott. He set the tone from the off, picking up a birdie on the first before doing the same on the 3rd, 9th, 13th and 14th.
Those five birdies were needed this morning in order to compensate the dropped shots on the 11th and 12th. The two bogeys were his only over-par scores in the first round and all things considered, he is well-placed to push on for the weekend.
Hurley will be hoping to make amends for last weekend when he missed the cut at the Ras al Khaimah championship where he missed the cut by five.
This is just the second event for Hurley on the DP World Tour as a card-holding player.
Later this evening, his West Waterford friend Seamus Power will be looking to build on his T15 finish at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Seamus will tee it up at one of the most raucous events on the PGA Tour when the Waste Management Phoenix Open returns to TPC Scottsdale.
18 of the world's top 20 are in attendance for what will be the only event in Arizona this year.
The tipsters are favouring the big hitters to rise to the top here with the thin and dry Arizona air helping the distance stats grow northward. Players will have little concern for water hazards as they show their face on just six of the 18 - and all on the back nine.
Much like the Ryder Cup, the "Waste Management" tends to draw a more "lively" crowd than other outings on tour, with beer cups regularly thrown onto the greens to celebrate good play - no harm in banking that experience with one eye on Rome later this year.
