A three-under 68 saw Stuart Grehan climb into the top 15 at the Kaskáda Golf Challenge in the Czech Republic, while Paul Dunne, Cormac Sharvin, Jonathan Caldwell and Jonathan Yates all missed the cut.
Starting the day on -1 after a solid opener, the Tullamore man faced Kaskáda Golf Resort at it’s toughest late in the afternoon but after a birdie-four at the first, he’d add another at the par-4 seventh and a third at the par-5 ninth to make the turn at -3 for the day.
After four pars to start the back nine, another birdie at the par-3 14th got him to -4 for the day and -5 for the tournament before a bogey – his first of the day – at 16 saw him drop back to four-under overall and he’d end the day tied for 14th.
Paul Dunne began the day alongside Grehan at -1, but a three-over 74 saw the Greystones man miss the cut by the minimum. Arriving at the par-5 ninth – his last – Dunne knew that he’d need an eagle to have any chance of earning a weekend tee time and he duly obliged, however the cutline, despite threatening to slip to +2, never budged from +1 with Dunne on the outside looking in.
Jonathan Yates, Cormac Sharvin and Jonathan Caldwell all ended the day on three-over after rounds of 71, 72 and 73 respectively, leaving Grehan as the sole Irish survivor going into the weekend.
Playing with minor Challenge Tour status, this is just Grehan’s third start of the season and a top-10 finish will more than likely earn him an invitation to next week’s Open de Bretagne where he’s currently well outside the entry cut off point, and he’s well positioned to do so as despite being seven-strokes off the lead, he’s only two strokes off fourth.
The lead is held by Spain’s Virto Borja whose second-round 66 saw him post -11 and leapfrog first-round leader Italian Lorenzo Scalise who followed up his opening 64 with a 68 in round two to finish on -10.
Another Spaniard in Manuel Elvira occupies solo third position at -7, four back, with an eight-way tie for fourth at -6 that includes Dane Lucas Bjerregaard who defeated Tiger Woods in the quarter-finals of the WGC Dell Matchplay back in 2019, a fortnight before Tiger would go on to famously capture his 15th major title at Augusta National.
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