An eagle on the 18th turned a good week into a potentially great one for Michael McGeady as he roared into contention on Friday at the 112th Irish PGA Championship sponsored by Columbia Sportswear.
The 2013 Irish PGA champion had been making steady progress at one-under-par for the championship but landed an eagle on 18 for a 69 to move to within two shots of Damien McGrane on three-under in Carne.
It was the move the Derry native was looking for and at the time of writing he was on course to be alongside McGrane in the final group on Saturday.
“Yeah very happy, it was a tricky day. I was just talking to the starter saying I would have been happy with anything around level-par for the day so it was nice to go a few better than that.
“I was treating today like moving day trying to get myself into position to get into one of the last few groups and get into the mix. I feel like being in the mix brings out the competitive juices in me.”
Conditions were particularly challenging for the early starters with a biblical shower saturating some sorry looking players in the early part of the round but McGeady stayed patient and hung tough with two birdies and two bogeys in a level-par front nine of 37.
Known as a links specialist, he added further gains on 14 and 15 and a bogey on 16 proved futile after his big finish.
Safe to say the blustery winds play into his wheelhouse.
“It certainly helps with keeping the ball flight down under the wind, being from the northwest definitely helps. There are other guys here who are from links backgrounds so they can also do that but it does help being able to flight the ball down it’s important.”
McGeady arrived in good form having finished as joint-winner in Newlands fortnight ago and he feels he is hitting his stride after an underwhelming season by his own admission.
“I feel I’ve had a disappointing season I have played better golf than my scores suggest but the win in Newlands gave me a bit of confidence going into the week and I’m hoping we get some decent weather tomorrow.
“It’s always nice to be calling yourself an Irish champion so I think everybody wants to come here and win this, it’s a big one and one we all try and get our game in good shape for.”
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