Ronan Mullarney fired a five-under 69 to storm up the leaderboard and he goes into the weekend tied for fifth and just three shots back at the HotelPlanner Tour’s Blot Play9 at Golf Bluegreen de Pléneuf Val André.
The Galway man began the day on the back nine at level-par and remained so after his opening nine holes having traded a birdie on 11 with a bogey on 12.
A birdie on the par-4 first got him back into red figures and he moved two-under with another on the fourth before embarking on a three-in-a-row surge from the sixth that listed him inside the top five.
Liam Nolan and Mark Power had started the day at the head of strong Irish contingent having shot matching three-under 67s on day one, but two birdies and two bogeys saw Nolan round in 70 while Power took one stroke more and was left to rue a triple bogey-seven on the first – his 10th – having made the turn at one-under.
They lie tied for 15th and tied for 24th respectively, and along with Mullarney are the only three of the seven Irish with weekend tee times after John Ross Galbraith, Max Kennedy, Cormac Sharvin and James Sugrue all missed the cut.
Pablo Ereño and John Gough are the men that they all have to catch and they share a one-stroke lead after 36 holes.
Spaniard Ereño carded a two under 68 and was joined at the top of the leaderboard by Gough, whose parents are Irish born, shortly afterwards, with the former Irish Amateur Open winner signing for a one under par second round of 69.
Ereño started his round one shot behind overnight leader Gough, and after bogeying the par four sixth, looked to be out of contention early on.
An eagle on the following hole offset the damage before a bogey at the ninth took the Spaniard back to level par. Two back nine birdies, including a nice up and down at the 17th, allowed the Spaniard to round off a solid Friday in France.
“Overall, I’m really happy with the round,” he said. “It was playing really hard out there today, the fairways were rolling a lot, and the greens were firm too, so it was hard to create birdie chances.
“I try not to look at the scoreboard; I try to play my own game when it’s my turn to get out there.
“I was hitting some great shots on the first four or five holes; I just wasn’t able to make any putts and then saved bogey at six with a really good wedge shot before I played the seventh perfectly and got eagle.
“All I’m doing is playing my best golf, and that was eight under in these first couple of days. I want to go as deep as I can and we will see how the course plays over the next couple of days.”
Gough, starting at the tenth, birdied two of his opening three holes before dropping three shots in four ahead of the turn. The 27-year-old responded well, however, steadying the ship with six straight pars, before carding back-to-back birdies and finishing with a routine par putt.
“I definitely didn’t hit it as well as yesterday,” he said. “The early birdies helped me because I wasn’t hitting it great and I was scrapping it around a little bit.
“My short game was quite tidy, and I made some good pars and getting a couple of birdies in at the end that will make dinner taste a little bit better.”
After taking advantage of low scoring conditions on the opening day, Gough, alongside the rest of the field, struggled to get going on day two.
“It was a mixture of everything,” he added. “I wasn’t hitting it in the right places at all. I think I actually managed it well, because you can have a big number quite easily out here.
“On this course you have to be patient and hopefully some putts start dropping.
“It’s very pleasing to be in the final group tomorrow, but the last two days have been very long, and there’s two long days ahead of us. I’m going to keep doing what I’ve been doing over these two days and then go from there.”
The pair hold a one-shot lead over American Charles Huntzinger who sits in solo third at seven under par. Frenchman Tom Gueant carded a level par 70 and holds outright fourth, one shot ahead of a pack of six in a share of fifth.
The third round of the Blot Play9 gets under way at 8am local time on Saturday with Ereño and Gough teeing off alongside Huntzinger at 12:25pm.
Leave a comment