Conor Purcell and Dermot McElroy progressed to the weekend’s action at the Challenge Tour’s Hopps Open de Provence with scores of -4, while Italian Francesco Laporta topped the leaderboard heading into the weekend on -13.
The Irish duo shared 31st place after two days of play at the Golf International de Pont Royal in Mallemort and are sure to be eyeing strong finishes if they can replicate the better of their first two days across the weekend.
Although he played better on Friday, shooting one-under-par, Jonathan Caldwell missed out on the weekend’s action with a score of -1, one shot off the cut set at -2.
Conor Purcell certainly had the round of the day out of the Irish competitors, mirroring McElroy’s performance on the opening day of action with a round 68.
Birdies on the third and fifth put Purcell two-under-par through five holes and although a bogey on the seventh looked like it might stifle the 26-year-old’s progress, consecutive birdies to finish out his front nine left him on -3 for the day and tournament.
Another red score on the 12th sent Purcell to four-under-par as the Portmarnock golfer finished his round with pars on every hole to come into the clubhouse with with McElroy, whose up-and-down level-par second round sees the leading group ahead move a number of shots clear of the Northern Irishman.
Clubhouse leader Francesco Laporta enjoyed a fantastic round of 64 to place him two strokes ahead of Round 1 leader and French native, Félix Mory.
Laporta shot nine birdies on his way to the top of the leaderboard, and after his strong showing on Friday he spoke about success on day two as well as his affinity for the course in Mallemort.
“I’m feeling good with my game,” he said. “I did a good job in the last two weeks. I was coming from a missed cut in Portugal, so I really worked hard to try to improve my game and it looks like it’s working.
“The last time I played here was in 2019 and I finished third, so I like the place, I like the course and I think it suits my game.”
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