From Legends Tour
South Africa’s Keith Horne holds a slender lead after day one of a sun-soaked OFX Irish Legends at Mount Juliet, with two eagles propelling him to seven-under and the top of a congested leaderboard in Kilkenny.
An opening 65 sees him one clear of compatriot James Kingston who carded a solid 66, and two ahead of a strong contingent of players at five-under that includes 1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie, last month’s Barbados Legends winner Scott Hend and Frenchman Jean-Francois Remesy.
“That was very enjoyable – I’d give it an eight out of 10,” said Horne, who has enjoyed a strong start to his 2025 Legends Tour campaign with top-10 finishes in both Marbella and Barbados, backing up his superb 2024 season that included a win in Zambia. “I had a little bit of a wobble in the middle of the round but otherwise I hit the ball really well today. It’s a really tough course with the greens being hard, but today I drove the ball well so had a lot of wedges and took advantage of the par fives.”
That was something of an understatement given his eagle threes on the fifth and the 17th, with a four-iron to tap-in distance on the former being the obvious highlight. “I hit two perfect golf shots,” said Horne who revealed he had faced the exact same shot twice already earlier in the week. “I hit it in the bunker both times, so I learned my lesson – I changed my line and got it up there just left of the hole.”
Horne is anticipating the conditions becoming more of a challenge in the coming days. “The fairways are hard to hit because they’re not that wide and they’ve got a little bit harder. The ball is running a long way so to hold them is tough. And the greens are also getting quite firm out there as well – if you’re out of position it’s hard to keep them on the greens.
“I’ve been working really hard on my golf swing. Everything clicked today but it wasn’t a 100 percent day, so I’ll just try and concentrate on the stuff I’ve been working on, try and get a little bit more grooved and see what happens tomorrow.”
Until Horne’s late eagle, it looked as though another South African – James Kingston – would be holding the overnight lead after a birdie at the last gave him a six-under round. “A 66 comes as a little bit of a surprise,” said Kingston. “I got off the plane and I was sick as a dog, so maybe there’s the old adage of ‘beware the injured golfer’. I hadn’t played the course before this week, but my warm-up was really good and my putting was on today. I kept the ball in play all day, hit some good iron shots and made a few putts. I wasn’t feeling on top of my game, but I just needed to put the ball in play and give myself chances.
“I had really good chances on the par-fives but didn’t take any of them, which was disappointing, but I managed to birdie 18 which was a bonus. I remember working with Pete Cowen years ago, and he always talked about not going out to try and win, but trying to get in position to have a chance on the final day. The more you put yourself in those positions, the more times the door might open.”
