No risk of failure for high-flying Kearney

Dubliner Niall Kearney sent out a stark message to his rivals, posting a four-under-par 68 in the HBE Risk Management PGA Ulster Championship Pro-Am.

The Dubliner shortened his odds of retaining the title he won last year after a run of birdies left him top of the leaderboard. He is in sparkling form just now, and came to The Hilton Templepatrick in good spirits off the back of a win in the two-day Connemara pro-am.

There was just one blot on the Royal Dublin man’s card, an ugly double-bogey seven at the fifth hole, but, despite that lapse, he covered the front nine in two-under-par 34. A birdie three at the first hole was followed by a four at the long third and he added birdie threes at six and nine to wipe out his seven at the fifth.

On the back nine, where he pencilled in seven fours, Kearney had seven pars and birdies at long holes 16 and 18 for a run in of two-under-34, in the shotgun start event.

Leading home the winning team on 93 points was Colm Moriarty whose amateur partners were Richard Gallagher (6), John Walsh (9) and Charlie Bartlett (11).