The second round of the HotelPlanner Tour’s Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge in France saw some strong displays from the Irish as Ronan Mullarney, Liam Nolan, and Conor Purcell all battled well to get inside the even-par cutline.
Mullarney, who was probably the most comfortable teeing off on Friday morning as his good work on Thursday saw him sit at three-under before a ball was struck in the second round. The Galway man was steady in the wind, as he sat even-par through nine holes after a birdie at the fourth, followed by a bogey at the sixth.
Even-par is where Mullarney would remain after 18 holes. The 30-year-old made two bogeys and two birdies on the back nine to sit T20 at three-under heading into the weekend. The windy conditions have been somewhat unpredictable around Golf PGA France du Vaudreuil and as Mullarney sits just six strokes back from the lead, he might fancy his weekend chances.
Liam Nolan can be proud of his second round as the 26-year-old shown his abilities in the middle third of his round, making five birdies in 18 holes. A few squares on the scorecard cost Nolan in the end, but a two-under-par 70 had him within the cutline at one-under and into the weekend.
Joining Nolan on the same one-under-par 36-hole score is Conor Purcell. The 29-year-old started very strongly with three birdies on the front nine but it almost came crashing down on the back nine as the Dubliner made two double bogeys at the 11th and 14th to put his weekend in jeopardy.
Purcell answered quickly with an eagle at the par-5 15th before adding a birdie at the last to shoot a one-under-par 71.
Mark Power, Max Kennedy, and James Sugrue all failed to make the cut. After 36 holes, Power sat at two-over, Kennedy at five-over, and Sugrue at +11.
Denmark’s Hamish Brown battled the winds to back up his first round 66 with a 69 on Friday as the 27-year-old holds a two stroke lead over the pack. Brown sits at nine-under as he looks to add to his two HotelPlanner Tour wins.
“Different wind directions and my iron play was a shambles but I saved a lot. Difficult day but happy with the grinding,” said the Dane.
“Maybe not so much off the tee but more into the greens I have been trying to be more conservative, it didn’t really work out well today as I didn’t strike the ball well enough. I think my plan is good enough if I can keep doing that, I just need to hit the middle of the ball a little bit more,” added Brown with a smirk.
Speaking on his game plan leading into the weekend, Brown said; “We’re all here to win but there is still two rounds of golf to go. I don’t even know what the standings are. I played decent golf, I’m gonna try and keep going and we’ll see Sunday afternoon how it goes.”
There is a three way tie for second place as French duo Julien Sale and Julien Brun join Norway’s Kristian Krogh Johannessen at seven-under. Six golfers share T5 at six-under-par.
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