Max Kennedy will go into the final round of the MENA Tour’s Rolear Algarve Classic in solo third place and just three shots off the lead as he chases a maiden professional victory to cap off an impressive rookie year.
The Royal Dublin man impressed during his debut HotelPlanner Tour campaign, and is playing on a tournament invitation as he continues his preparation for another tilt at gaining promotion to the DP World Tour next year.
Kennedy shot an opening round of five-under-par, with the only blemish coming courtesy of a three-putt on the 18th, and with an early tee time in round two, he carded three birdies in a bogey-free 69 to take the clubhouse lead before being overtaken by former Ryder Cup star Chris Wood and Scot Aidan O’Hagan who continues his rich vein of form after making a hole-in-one on the opening day.
“Yeah, I played nicely,” Kennedy said. “My goal over the last two days was to keep the bogeys off the card, so I did a good job of that today.
“No bogeys, just didn’t make many putts on the back nine, but that’s the way it goes sometimes, you know.”
The O’Connor Course at Amendoeira Golf Resort was designed by Christy O’Connor Jnr, a former Assistant Pro to his uncle, Christy Snr at Royal Dublin, so it’s no surprise that Kennedy is feeling very much at home.
“It’s quite wide off the tee, so you can kind of get away with hitting a shot badly here and there,” he said. “But your short game needs to be really good around the greens, especially on the tough Bermuda. If you don’t strike the ball well, it can come out dead and not go anywhere, so your striking around the greens needs to be good and it has been for me over the last couple of days.”
Satisfied with his tee-to-green game, he plans on taking an aggressive approach to the third and final round in search of his first professional win and the $18,000 cheque for first place.
“It’s one more round, so just keep attacking,” he explained. “Keep going at pins. I’m hitting it really well, so I’m comfortable with going at the pins and just seeing what happens, you know, play my own game.
“Any competition is great and there’s a really strong field here this week with the ex-European Tour players, so you know, competing against them, you can’t beat that. And the more you do that, the more you get used to that environment, and the better you’re going to be, and the MENA Tour provides that.”
Next best of the Irish is Paul McBride at two-under-par and tied for 25th. The Island man made four birdies in a two-under round of 70, with Tyler Hogarty one shot further adrift at -1. Gary McGrane had a day to forget and missed the cut.
Wood, who held a three-way share of the lead after round one, took sole possession thanks to a second consecutive bogey-free round, carding a four-under-par 68 to move to 11-under-par and open up a one-shot advantage heading into Thursday’s final round.
The Englishman’s flawless 36-hole display – carding birdies on the second, ninth, 11th and 16th in his second round – has seen him yet to blemish his scorecard all tournament, a remarkable feat that puts him in pole position to claim his first MENA Golf Tour title.
“I didn’t drop a shot all day. It was a bit harder today though,” said Wood. “I said to Lloydy on the third green I wasn’t quite as sharp as I felt yesterday mentally. That’s the good thing about having him here – it’s easy to share those thoughts. Then you can talk about it and come up with a solution. So, we did a good job managing that today and really nice to go another round bogey-free.”
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