It was a mixed day for The Island’s Paul McBride in round two of the Clutch Pro Tour’s Ashburnham Classic on the south Welsh coast, but there was a clear highlight.
An opening round of 70 had him inside the top 10 at two-under-par, despite finishing with back-to-back bogeys, and he began round two in the early wave though the testing wind that he’d had for his afternoon round on day one and which had been absent for the early starters was a constant presence for the second day.
A bright start saw him pick up a shot on the par-3 13th – his fourth – but potential disaster lurks everywhere with gusts blowing up to 45 kph and he fell victim on the 15th where he made a triple bogey-seven.
He responded in the best possible fashion by making a hole-in-one on the 174-yard 16th – how many players have gone seven-one in back-to-back holes? – before dropping another shot on the par-4 17th.
That left him on one-over for the round, and he traded two birdies with two bogeys over the remaining 10 holes to card a one-over 71 that leaves him tied for 11th and just five shots off the lead which is held by two Englishmen in Curtis Knipes and Timothy Shin.
Tyler Hogarty and John Murphy are a shot behind McBride at level-par. Hogarty carded a second successive 72, while Murphy went four better than his opening effort with a two-under round of 70.
Alex Maguire sits on +2 after back-to-back 73s and shares 33rd, but there was no joy for Dermot McElroy who closed with back-to-back bogeys and missed the cut by one.
Daniel Mulligan, Brandon St John, Robert Brazill, John Ross Galbraith and Marc Boucher also missed out.
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