Irish Open 2022 R1

June 30 - July 03
Mount Juliet Estate, Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, Ireland
$6,000,000
Round 2, Round 3, Round 4

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Irish Open 2022 R1

New Zealander Ryan Fox fired six birdies on his back nine to close with a bogey-free 64 in the opening round of the Horizon Irish Open at Mount Juliet Estate.

Irish Open 2022 R1

"To be honest, everything was (working well today).

"The short game kept me in it early and a couple of good up-and-downs. My wedge play was really good and on top of that I holed a couple of nice putts.

"So it's just one of those days where everything went really well and I managed to keep it in the fairway for the most part, which around this golf course, if you're in the rough, that's pretty tough out there, which I found sort of through the first six holes."

Irish Open 2022 R1

Fox has been in great form lately with three top-three finishes in his last five starts and won the Ras al Khaimah Classic in February.

"I feel really happy with where I am on the golf course and off the golf course, and that's a nice place to be. Just go out and try to hit a good shot. If it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen.

"And there's definitely some confidence there. I feel really comfortable here, where my game's at. And it's obviously a recipe for success. I've got close a few times the last few weeks. It'd certainly be nice to get another one over the line.

"But it's pretty hard to win out here, and being in contention every week is pretty taxing as well. So I'm excited to do it, and hopefully I've got another chance this week."

Irish Open 2022 R1

Spain's Jorge Campillo, Italy's Fabrizio Zanotti and Germany's Marcel Schneider signed for bogey-free 65s and were joined in second place at 7-under by France's Frederic Lacroix.

Englishmen Jordan Smith, Aaron Rai and Dale Whitnell are tied in sixth at 6-under alongside Spain's Pablo Larrazábal and South African's Thriston Lawrence. Larrazábal and Whitnell both remained bogey-free.

Irish Open 2022 R1