DP World Tour pro breaks Doonbeg course record to make cut after shooting 76 on Thursday
In the immortal words of Sam Elliott, sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you. On Thursday, the bear ate Richard Mansell as the Englishman stumbled to a six-over 76 during his opening round at the Amgen Irish Open. On Friday, however, the food chain flipped as Mansell fired a scintillating 63 to make the cut, setting a new course record at Trump Doonbeg along the way.
Mansell’s remarkable 13-shot swing was buoyed by an eagle on the par-5 fourth hole, where he made par on Thursday. With the exception a splashy outward nine, where Mansell played Nos. 2 through 6 five-under par, his record-breaking round was evidence that links golf is as much about mistake management as it is about ingenious shot-making. Case in point: Mansell picked up four strokes with pars on No. 8 and No. 18, both of which he double bogeyed on Thursday.
After his second round, Mansell looked sure to pocket the $30,000 bonus for low round of the week. But the 2025 Porsche Singapore Classic winner was quickly upstaged by leader Shane Lowry, who set a new new course record with a 62 on Friday afternoon. That may take some of the shine off Mansell's remarkable round but at the least he won’t be walking away empty handed. After the way things looked on Thursday evening, that’s a victory in and of itself.