David Mulholland finds himself five shots back in a tie for sixth going into the third and final round of the Spanish Senior Amateur Open, while Joe Lyons will need to go low if he’s to have a successful defence.
The 108-player field faced another day of tough scoring conditions at Sherry Golf Jerez in Cadiz, but as one of the early starters, Castlerock’s Mulholland was able to grab a couple of early birdies which, combined with a bogey on nine, got him to the turn at one-under for the round and the tournament and tracking down the leaders.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t keep the momentum up on the back and two bogeys saw him slip to one-over, but only Finland’s Mikko Rantanen and Welshman Michael White were able to string back-to-back rounds in the red and the former’s pair of 70s leaves him two clear of the latter who carded two 71s.
Lyons, who ran into trouble with Ryanair bringing the trophy back in ’24, would dearly love to have similar issues on this year’s return flight, and after making a birdie and 10 pars in his first 11 holes to get back to level-par, would’ve fancied his chances of closing the gap further in the closing seven.
It wasn’t to be, however, and three bogeys over the closing stretch leaves him seven back on +3 and will need to shoot a round in the 60s and possibly hope for help from the trio in red figures.
Shane Kenneally was the best placed Irishman after round one, but a five-over 77 leaves him back in a tie for 15th, while John Reynolds, Karl Bournemann, Eddie McCormack and Noel Crawford also made the cut but are too far back to be likely contenders in Saturday’s final round.
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