James Sugrue fired a second-round 67 to back up his opening 65 at the 2023 Alps de Las Castillas, as the 2019 Amateur Champion put himself in contention going into the final round.
Birdies at three, five and seven were offset by bogeys at six and eight as the Mallow man had a topsy-turvy opening to his round, but an eagle-three at the par-5 ninth took him to three-under at the turn. He’d add two more birdies on a blemish-free back nine to post -12 in the clubhouse, good for a tie for fifth place.
“Today was very similar to yesterday,” Sugrue said afterwards, “I drove the ball well and took advantage of the par 5 which I believe is very important on this golf course. I missed a few opportunities but that happens so stayed patient and took advantage where I was able to. Looking forward to tomorrow, the weather was lovely again this morning and not as windy as it’ll get this afternoon.”
Ronan Mullarney is also through to Saturday’s finale, backing up his opening four-under 68 with the same score in round two, carding seven birdies with three bogeys which saw the Galway man move up to a tie for 25th.
Paul McBride and Paul Murphy began the day at -1, both needing to go low to to make the top-40 and ties. Murphy was out of the mix early, but McBride put in a stellar effort to shoot -5 on the day, but ultimately ended the day one stroke short of the cut mark.
Dutchman Kiet Van der Weele and Spaniard Borja Martin Torre lead the way on -15, the latter’s seven birdies and an eagle was bettered only by fellow countryman Alvaro Hernandez Cabezuela who had nine birdies and an eagle en route to his round of -10 that leaves him in a tie for 13th going into the final round.
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