With nine Irish in the field for the HotelPlanner Tour’s Italian Challenge Open at Golf Nazionale on the outskirts of Rome, hopes were high that several would find themselves in the mix on Sunday.
But over two low-scoring rounds, only Ronan Mullarney and James Sugrue were able to find themselves inside the top 60 to earn weekend tee times.
Both men are making just their second HotelPlanner Tour starts of the campaign and it’s Alps Tour graduate Mullarney who is best placed at six-under after carding matching three-under 69s.
A run of five birdies in seven holes on his final nine on Thursday turned his fortunes around, and he started out hot to birdie the first in round two but couldn’t gain further ground by the halfway mark after trading two birdies with two bogeys. After a run of pars to start the back nine, he birdied three of the final five, dropping a shot in between, and goes into the weekend tied for 27th.
Sugrue, playing his first HotelPlanner Tour season after earning his playing rights on the Clutch Pro Tour in dramatic fashion last year, found himself at level-par for the day and one-under overall with six holes to play and needing to pick up at least three shots if he was to make it through. He did exactly that, birdieing the 13th and 14th before closing out with another on 18 to make the cut on the number.
Gary Hurley, John Ross Galbraith and Robert Moran all missed out by two strokes, while Max Kennedy rebounded from a disappointing 77 to shoot a confidence-building six-under 66 that still left him three shots shy.
Liam Nolan (E), Mark Power (+1), and Conor Purcell (+7) also missed out, and have a couple of extra days to sharpen up before they head to Catalunya next week.
Jhared Hack carded a bogey-free six under par round of 66 to maintain his four-stroke lead at the halfway mark.
The American, making his third start on the HotelPlanner Tour, picked up where he left off on Thursday to reach 16 under par for the week, four shots ahead of Englishman Chris Wood, who had earlier set the clubhouse lead following an eight under par round of 64.
Hack came into the week knowing a top ten would see him through to next week’s Challenge de Catalunya on the Road to Mallorca but can now start to dream of the winners’ exemption that would come with a victory.
“I hung in there today,” Hack said. “I’m proud of myself for staying patient, sticking to my goals, and keeping it pretty stress free.”
“I hit a great shot into 17 that was playing 213 yards today, hit a good five iron to four feet, and hit a really nice shot into 18 too.”
“It’s always great when you can make five birdies in a row.”
Starting on the back nine, Hack registered his first birdie on the par three 12th, but caught fire around the turn, with a birdie on the 16th kickstarting a run of five consecutive gains.
The pick of the bunch came at the par five 18th, Hack capping off his opening nine by sending a towering fairway wood to ten feet, leaving the simplest of birdies after the eagle putt slid by.
The American was most pleased however to have kept the blemishes off the card over Thursday and Friday.
“It’s good to be bogey-free through 36 holes,” he added “My goal for this week was to stay below the hole, stay patient, and kind of plot my way around.
“I told my friends back home that this was a good course for my game so I’m just going to continue to do what I’ve been doing.
“Keep giving myself chances, don’t take birdie away off the tee, and go have fun. This is why we practice, to be in a spot like this.”
Wood had the outright lead after the morning wave, an eight under 64 meaning he will enter his first weekend back on the HotelPlanner Tour at 12 under par.
Wood will be hoping to put the pressure on Hack, with the pair in the final group in tomorrow’s third round alongside England’s
“It was nice to give myself a lot of chances today, but I’ve got a long road ahead of me to get back to where I want to be playing, and how I want to be playing,” he said.
Leave a comment