West Waterford duo Seamus Power and Gary Hurley both began their Amgen Irish Open campaigns with +3 rounds of 74 at Royal County Down.
Power, who was among the early morning leaders having started on the back nine - found the front nine more difficult to ultimately drop from -2 back to +3.
Birdies at the 11th and 12th propelled Power to -2 within 3, and the Touraneena man remained steady until beginning the front nine, with bogeys at the first and second dropping him back to level par before further gained shots at the 4th, 5th and 9th to close out day one on a score of 74.
The two-time Touraneena man took the positives from his first 18 holes on Irish soil since 2022.
"I didn't handle it - the greens are a bit more exposed on the front 9 and I had a couple of poor three-putts, turned 1 or 2 under into 3 over but hopefully I can turn it around tomorrow. It's part of links golf and the wind. I'm out in the afternoon tomorrow so I'll have my work cut out for me - but if I can have one of those rounds tomorrow, I'll be right back in it."
Clubmate Gary Hurley encountered similar fortunes as he also carded a 74.
Hurley birdied the 2nd but gave that shot back at the 7th, though he quickly remedied the situation with a birdie at the 8th.
Dropped shots followed at the 11th, 13th and 15th before another birdie at 16 - but a double bogey at 17 saw him also close out on 74.
Power is back out at 12.50pm on Friday and will be joined by Aaron Rai and Sebastian Soderberg.
Hurley returns to the course at 1.10pm tomorrow in the company of Dan Bradbury and Maximilian Kieffer.
Our coverage is with thanks to Suir Engineering: Delivering innovative engineering solutions for a sustainable future.
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