Niall Kearney will take a two shot lead into the final round of the Callaway Chrome Tour Open Series in Dundalk Golf Club.
Kearney fired a scintillating round of seven-under (65) as he looks to hold off reigning Irish PGA champion Simon Thornton, Colm Moriarty and England’s James Harrison Cooper.
Low scoring was the order of the day with 24 players shooting in red figures but it’s Kearney who is the man to beat after he mixed eight birdies and just one bogey.
“Played really well, been practicing hard the last few days. I was keen to recalibrate after some bad weather over the weekend. Played really well missed a few short putts so feel like I left three or four out there,” said Kearney who roared to the turn with four successive birdies from the sixth.
The Royal Dublin man has three Irish PGA Championships to his name with the second of them coming in 2015 when he won here in Dundalk.
“I played solid, really like the golf course here won an Irish championship. Just very comfortable round here, suits my eye with the dog legs shaped the correct way for my game.”
Big hitters lie in wait of any Kearney mistakes on Wednesday. In a share of second place is Thornton after a bogey-free 67 while Moriarty rolled in eight birdies in his five-under effort.
Thornton has been struggling with a niggling back issue but managed to avoid any further stress on the card with birdies on the 6th, 9th, 10th, 14th and 16th.
“Played quite solid I think had a few chances early on from inside ten, fifteen feet and didn’t take any of them. Then I hopped on the back of Colm we both played nicely and had chances. Overall I played nicely and didn’t hole the putts I should have done and holed the putts I shouldn’t have.”
Moriarty was six-under through seventeen holes but did drop a shot on the last although he was relieved not to lose a ball after a search party for a seemingly routine ball to find int he left rough on 18 threatened the three minute mark.
“I made eight birdies today, hit a lot of really good iron shots in today. Hit a few poor tee shots but got into the round with my irons and making eight birdies you have to be happy with that.”
The Glasson man has won three of his last five events and is the man in form at the moment.
“Just did a bit of work on my game, my grip. With golf no matter what level you get a bit of momentum and things feel a little bit easier. It was nice to play well again.”
A raft of players from the PGA in the UK have come across the Irish Sea to play in the Open Series event with five perched inside the top-11 including Cooper, David Barry Coupland, Reece Samson, James Freeman and Matthew Ford.
Reigning K Club Pro-Am champion Cormac Sharvin is back in the pack at one-under.
Scoring HERE
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