Richie O’Donovan followed up his four-under opening round with a two-under 70 to remain in the hunt for a Sunshine Tour card at the midpoint at State Mines Country Club.
The former East of Ireland champion showed mighty resolve to bounce back after reaching the turn at +3 courtesy of a double-bogey on the sixth and a bogey on the seventh, seeing him drop well down the leaderboard.
He’d birdie the 10th to get things moving in the right direction, added another at the 12th, then two more with back-to-back birdies on 14 and 15 which saw him reach red figures for the day.
He’d close out the round with a birdie at the par-4 finishing hole to complete a remarkable turnaround that saw him end the day in a tie for 15th.
The only Irishman in the field, the Lucan native first qualified to compete on the Sunshine Tour in 2020, just days before the world became gripped by the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning that he’d have to wait until the 21/22 season to have any real chance to compete and he finished 117th on the Order of Merit.
With 25 cards on offer – though Q-School graduation only guarantees you entry to the early season events and none of the co-sanctioned events – O’Donovan is well placed through 36 holes, but will need to follow it up with two more solid rounds to seal his playing rights.
Local man Caylum Boon leads the way on -14, backing up his opening 66 with an impressive 64 in round two, and he leads England’s David Wicks by two strokes, with South African amateur Gerhard Trytsman lying third at -11.
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