Paul Murphy and Robin Dawson are both well placed to earn Alps Tour cards after the opening two rounds of the Final Stage of Q-School in Rome.
Murphy and Dawson are both in a share of third place on six-under, three shots off leader Luca Galliano.
Two birdies in his last three holes helped Murphy shoot a two-under 70 at Golf Nazionale while Dawson recovered from a bogey, double bogey start to card five birdies in eight holes and move alongside his fellow Munsterman with a two-under 71 at Ogliata.
Murphy is one of the unknown Irish names in the field this week and it has been a real team effort so far with close friend Harry McGeary flying in to man the bag for him.
“I went out there today with the intention like nothing happened yesterday and pretty much stuck to my game plan and routine but most importantly believed in myself. Every time I got down I knew I was able to get birdies along the way as I was very confident in myself so it didn’t really bug me.”
The Rosslare native believes starting on the Ogliata course has benefited him. “Yesterday for me personally I had an easier start by starting on the back nine. I knew I wanted to start by going low and then the round took over itself. Luckily, I continued the momentum from yesterday’s round into the round today.”
Ahead of tomorrow’s final round where 2023 Alps Tour playing cards are at stake Murphy is looking to maintain his focus and treat the round like a new day.“Tomorrow I will focus again on the same thing like today by thinking nothing happened today. Take one shot at a time and believe in myself. I put the hard work to use so far so now I just have to let it happen.”
Paul McBride comfortably made the final round cut with a 71 to move to two-under while Joseph Hanney of the Island is on one-over after a second round 74.
Open Championship participant Ronan Mullarney was up against it after an opening 78 but he went ten shots lower in round two as the First Stage winner roared back into the mix on plus one.
At the conclusion of tomorrow’s final round, the top 35 players and ties will be eligible to receive Category 6 membership for the 2023 Alps Tour Season. The rest of the players who made the cut, and finished between the 36th and 65th position will be eligible to receive Category 8 membership for next year’s season. The remaining players will be eligible for membership in Category 9 for the 2023 Alps Tour Season. All of the players that will be in categories 8 and 9 will be subject to the 2023 Alps Tour committee re-rank policy.
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