Alex Maguire and Robert Moran are the sole survivors after day two of the Alps Tour’s Tunisian Golf Open at La Cigale Tabarka GC.
Maguire started on the 10th, and he would string together a second consecutive under-par round to leave him well placed heading into the final day in a tie for 8th position on -5. Three birdies with just a single bogey on the 17th would see Maguire in decent shape at the turn at -2. His back nine was a bit more of a slog as he would see bogeys on his way home including consecutive ones at the par-5 6th and again on the 7th. A bold finish of back-to-back birdies on his final two would see the 23-year-old card a two-under for Friday and in outstanding position for a strong finish on tomorrow’s final round.
Moran, who already has a top-10 under his belt this year, would trade blows with three birdies atoning for three bogeys as he made his way around. The last of these on the 7th was followed by double on his penultimate hole, meaning he’d finish the day on two-over, dropping him back to -3 and tied for 15th spot heading into the final day.
Paul McBride began round two looking to claw back the ground lost on day one, but a two-under 70 was not enough for the Island GC man as the damage had been done yesterday and he would miss the cut line of +2 by two strokes.
Meanwhile Marc Boucher and Brandon St. John’s wait for a maiden paycheck on the Alps Tour will have to wait, with the former finishing one back of McBride, while St. John was further down the field.
Manfredi Manica remains top on -10 after another solid showing to tighten his grip on the tournament, while Swiss Luca Galliano sits one shot back.
Manica has a pair of compatriots in Adalberto Montini and Geanmaria Rean Trinchero sitting in the top-5 with the second place Swiss and Spaniard, Alvaro Hernandez Cabezuela taking the other two berths into Saturday. Trinchero shot up the board with a course-record setting 63 that could easily have been a shot better had he not bogeyed the par-4 closing hole.
The final day sees 21 two-balls take to the course to decide who comes out on top. Mid-morning starts for the Irish duo, with Moran kicking off his Saturday at 9.52am in Tunisia with Italian Davide Buchi accompanying him around. Maguire, meanwhile, will start two groups back and begin his day with another Italian for company at 10.15am. Shades of Giants Stadium in ’94 with the Irish taking on the Italian contingent on an exciting final day in the sunshine.
Leave a comment