Conor Purcell is hoping all facets of his game can fire over the weekend as he looks to land his maiden Challenge Tour title at the Delhi Challenge in India.
Purcell eased to within three shots of the halfway lead after a second round 67 and he shares fifth place on nine-under.
The Portmarnock man has enjoyed a solid start to the Challenge Tour season, finishing 17th and 24th in his two starts and he ranks 50th in early the Road to Mallorca Rankings. Purcell was in contention at the halfway point in both events but Saturday rounds of 72 and 76 respectively put him out of the mix, a lesson he hopes to learn from.
“There’s been a lot of good stuff, just putting it together for four days,” said the 26-year-old. “I feel this week I have control over my ball and hit the shots I want which is nice and hopefully I can keep doing it.
“That’s all you can ask for just keep doing it and try learn from previous events so hopefully I can kick on from here.”
Purcell’s opening round stalled with a bogey on the par-5 3rd on Thursday but he kickstarted his day with an eagle on that hole and he recovered from a bogey on the 4th with back-to-back birdies on 8 and 9. This time around he kept pushing on in the back nine and carded a brace of birdies on 14 and 15 to march into the mix.
“It was steadier than yesterday, not as different on the two nines, made a nice eagle on my third hole today. Just played steady golf, anytime I was out of position I got it back in play and I played nicely overall.
“Conditions were different, the pin positions were tricky on some holes and the greens dried out a hair so it was difficult to stop the ball but I played the par fives well which you need to do out here.”
Frenchman Martin Couvra remains in front on twelve-under-par, one shot ahead of James Allan.
West Waterford man Gary Hurley isn’t entirely out of the mix just yet, he recovered from two early bogeys to card a 68 including two eagles to lie on six-under and T28.
A low cut was set on four-under with John Murphy missing it by one while Alex Maguire was level par.
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