Niall Kearney and Paul McBride are on course to qualify from DP World Tour Q-School First Stage as both are well placed with 18 holes to go in the qualifier at England’s Donnington Grove Golf Club.
After an opening 70, back-to-back 69s see Kearney on eight-under and tied for fourth. After starting round three with a bogey-five, he birdied three of the following eight and added another on the back side to give himself a four-stroke cushion heading into the final round.
McBride had the best opening round with a five-under 67 that left him just one shot off the lead, but a second-round 73 had him moving the wrong way. A one-under 71 on day three was a solid response and he sits tied for 13th at -5.
Marc Boucher is next best of the Irish at -2 having covered the opening 36 in level-par but making an upward step in round three to move into T33, with Robert Moran one further back after an Irish round of the day tying 69.
Jonathan Yates, Robert Brazill and John Murphy are all on one-over after disappointing over-par rounds on day three, and will each need to go low on the fourth and final day if they’re to advance.
Kevin Phelan (+2) and Tom Dowdall (+4) look as though they’ve too much to do, as had Stuart Grehan who opted to withdraw after round three on +2.
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