Marc Boucher will be the sole Irish representative in the third and final round at the Croara Alps Open in Piacenza, Italy, as the first-year pro backed up his opening 69 with a three-under 68.
Boucher went bogey-free, making birdies on eight, nine and 18 and finds himself six shots back with 18 holes to go.
It’s been a tough debut season on the circuit for Boucher, but he now has the opportunity to work his way up the leaderboard on day three and end the season on a high note.
Robert Moran was hoping to find himself in contention for victory, entering the second round just one off the lead, but a disappointing four-over on day two means he misses the cut by the minimum. A double bogey on 11, followed by back-to-back bogeys on 12 and 13 did the majority of the damage, and his hopes of pushing his way into the top five in the Order of Merit suffered a crushing blow.
Brandon St. John also misses the cut, but can take solace from the fact that he improved on his opening round by four strokes.
Austrian amateur Jakob Lotschak takes a one stroke lead into the final round after following up his opening 65 with a second-round 66 for a -11 tally, with the Italian duo of Elia Dallanegra and Marco Florioli on -10 and -9 respectively.
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