Maynooth University student James Walsh will enter the final round of the R&A Student Series event at La Sella Golf Club in Spain just one shot off the lead after back-to-back one-under 71s.
The 20-year-old Douglas Golf Club member is in his second year as one of the Paddy Harrington Scholars at Maynooth, and made five birdies and four bogeys on a tough day for scoring at the venue which hosts one of the premier Ladies European Tour tournaments.
He trails Englishman Martin Lucas by one shot after the University of Lancashire student shot a superb four-under 68 to jump to the top of the leaderboard, with Italian Lorenzo Fior an additional shot back on one-under, and they are the only three players in the 54-man field in red figures after 36 holes.
Ulster University’s Jack McIlhatton is next best of the Irish, sharing seventh place at +2 after a second-round 71, while Patrick Curran of the National College of Ireland is just outside the top 10 at +4 after shooting level-par, alongside another Maynooth man in Conor Stapleton.
Curran, who won the opening event of the campaign, lies second in the Order of Merit behind England’s Sam Haynes Coote who is also tied for 12th.
In the women’s division, Anna Dawson is tied for fourth after a one-over round took her to +4. She’s just one shot behind Sweden’s Elice Fredriksson in third place, with a further two-stroke gap to Australian and runaway Order of Merit leader, Caitlin Maurice in second.
Englishwoman Grace Bowen, representing the University of Stirling has opened up a five-stroke gap over Maurice at the top, so barring a final-round collapse, it looks as though minor placings are the best that Dawson can hope for.
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