Conor Purcell was pleased to grind out a level-par 72 despite not having his best golf to remain in contention at the Challenge Tour Grand Final at Club de Golf Alcanada.
Purcell is just one of seven players to be under-par at the halfway stage and at one-under he trails joint leaders Marco Penge and Tom Vaillant by six shots heading into the weekend.
“Today was a good day, started quite slow but did well to get it back. It’s hard to get it back when you’re on the back foot out here but managed to get two birdies and keep it solid coming in,” said the 26-year-old who bogeyed holes 2 and 8 but rallied with birdies on 9 and 11 before closing out with all pars.
“I didn’t have my best stuff, greens were tricky and play was slower today because it was so windy and when I hit it out of position I managed to hit a good recovery.”
The Portmarnock man came into the week ranked 36th in the Road to Mallorca Rankings with the top-20 securing DP World Tour cards on Sunday evening. He sits in a share of 5th place on the tournament leaderboard and is projected 29th in the season long rankings so he knows he must keep pushing.
“My mindset coming into the week was quite good I knew it would be a tough test and I almost enjoy weeks where you don’t have to play perfect golf, you’re going to be getting up and down a couple of times so far which is good but plenty of golf to play.
“Starting the week I wanted to put myself in contention and hopefully with another two good days we can put ourselves in there come Sunday so keep taking it hole by hole with the conditions and see what happens.”
Englishman Penge, who came into this week in 24th position on the Road to Mallorca Rankings, made the turn at level par before bursting into life on the back nine with five birdies and a solitary bogey to reach seven under par for the week.
Frenchman Vaillant, playing in his first full season on the Challenge Tour, made two birdies and one bogey on the way out before three birdies in his final six holes, including one at the last, saw him tie the lead with Penge.
Penge is projected to climb 18 places into sixth on the Road to Mallorca Rankings, while Vaillant would climb 23 places into tenth. The top 21 on the Rankings at the conclusion of the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final will earn DP World Tour playing privileges for 2024.
France’s Frederic Lacroix posted the low round of the day – a sensational seven under par 65 – to move into third position on four under par. He is projected to climb 11 places into 14th position on the Rankings and secure a return to the DP World Tour.
Italian Andrea Pavan posted a five under par round of 67 to move into fourth place on three under par and he is projected to finish the season on top of the Rankings. A win this week would see him become the first to man to win the Challenge Tour Rankings on two separate occasions.
German Max Rottluff, American Julian Suri and Irishman Conor Purcell share fifth place on one under par, while Italian Francesco Laporta, Switzerland’s Joel Girrbach and England’s Brandon Robinson Thompson are a shot further back in eighth.
The third round of the season finale will get under way at 8:00am local time, with Penge teeing it up in the final group alongside Vaillant and Lacroix at 9:24am.
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