Amgen Irish Open: Day one digest

Joaquin Niemann led the way, home heroes were in the mix and Thomas Detry landed a big bird on day one of the Amgen Irish Open.

Here is everything you need to know from Thursday at Trump Interational Golf Links & Hotel, Ireland, Doonbeg.

Niemann leads the way

Niemann produced a late birdie burst to card a 65 and lead the way after day one. The Chilean made four birdies in a row from the 14th to get to five under and set the target on a day when the wind made scoring difficult. The conditions also led to unavoidable delays and some players will have to return early on day two to complete their opening rounds. Home hero and 2009 champion Shane Lowry was in the clubhouse after completing his 67 in the fading light and he sat two shots back alongside South African Shaun Norris. Pole Adrian Meronk - the 2022 champion - Austrian Maximilian Steinlechner and Italian Renato Paratore were also at three under with holes still to play.

Lowry leads impressive home trio

Lowry was delighted to execute his plan as he led the home charge after the opening day. The 39-year-old famously won this event as an amateur in 2009 and has played every edition since as he looks to become the first player from the Republic of Ireland to win it twice in the DP World Tour era. This week's layout is a single loop, with the wind tending to be with you on the front nine and into on the back, and Lowry was pleased with how he tackled the challenge. "It was pretty good," he said. "Look, you knew going out that you needed to make some birdies early on on those par fivess that were downwind. I felt like I did that. Then when I turned around, I felt like I did a solid job of making pars and trying to get to the clubhouse as quick as I could. I'm happy with my score." Northern Ireland's Tom McKibbin was one shot further back at two under, one ahead of defending champion Rory McIlroy.

The rarest of birds

When Thomas Detry hit his second from the rough on the tenth from 227 yards, there did not look to be much chance it would go in the hole. It went left and trundled and scurried at pace but all of a sudden it found itself on line and we had the fourth albatross of the season. A proper links shot.

Wild and windy

The coasts of the British Isles are known not just for the links golf courses they produce but the links conditions and Thursday was a prime example, with wind causing chaos in some quarters.

And once our players could get round to putting, it was proving a challenge even for the world's best.

Taking it on

Even in tough conditions, these guys are not afraid to take the course on, as McIlroy showed when he drove through the green at the par-four sixth.

And not to be outdone, in the very next group Lowry put his tee shot to 15 feet. These boys are good.

"That's cheeky"

60 feet away, over the ridge, blowing a gale, rain coming in - never in doubt for Patrick Reed.

No putter required

Rikuya Hoshino didn't have much of a lie on the eighth. It didn't matter.

From the ridiculous to the sublime

Golf is as mad as it is maddening - just ask Bob MacIntyre.