Two birdies in his last three holes helped Stuart Grehan complete a great recovery and shoot a four-under 67 to move to within three of the early lead on the EuroPro Tour’s Spey Valley Championship.
The Tullamore Golf Club pro landed birdies on the 16th and 17th holes to climb inside the top-10 and three behind Paul Maddy.
Grehan showed his powers of recovery more than once during the opening round after three birdies on the trot before the turn helped him salvage his front nine after a difficult start.
The Irishman bogeyed two of his first four holes before a birdie on the fifth was followed by a hat trick from the seventh.
Grehan played his last fourteen holes bogey-free.
It was a day of late shows for the Irish with Robin Dawson following suit to battle back for a two-under 69.
The Tramore man has been struggling for form of late and after a double-bogey on the second and a bogey on the fifth it looked as if he was up against it again.
However, a hole-out eagle on the par-4 9th kickstarted things and birdies on 13, 16 and 18 saw him home in 33 and he is just five off the pace with some momentum heading into tomorrow.
Dundalk’s Daniel Mulligan and Dermot McElroy are alongside Dawson after morning two-under 69s while Luke Donnelly, Brendan McCarroll and Ronan Mullarney are in the pack on level-par.
Daniel Brennan and Rhys Clarke have work to do from three-over and six-over respectively while Northern Ireland’s John Ross Galbraith is plus five.
Roganstown amateur starlet Sean Keeling is six-over through 16 and he will return on Thursday morning to complete the final two holes of his round after play was suspended due to darkness.
Scoring HERE
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