In Friday’s second round, Ronan Mullarney shot a three-under 69 to make the cut with a shot to spare, and on Saturday, he repeated the feat and climbed into a share of 30th place with 18 holes to go in the German Challenge.
Playing alongside fellow countryman Mark Power who went one shot lower to land on the same number on Friday, the Galway man birdied three of the first nine to make the turn at -6 overall. A disappointing start to the back nine saw him double bogey the 10th, and drop another shot on 13 to slip back to level-par for the round.
A strong finish was in store, however, and he regained the lost ground by birdieing three of the final four holes, including the final two to climb into 30th place.
Power also birdied three of his opening nine but turned at -2 for the day having bogeyed the second.
Another birdie on the 14th had him on course for another round in the 60s but two late bogeys dropped him back to -1 for the day and into a tie for 48th.
Dutchman Lars van der Vight, who became the fourth player in HotelPlanner Tour history to shoot 59 during Friday’s second round, mixed a birdie and an eagle with three dropped shots to remain 15-under-par for the week, three clear of Denmark’s Jeppe Kristian Andersen, who holds solo second.
Despite recording 13 more strokes than his Friday effort in Neuburg an der Donau, Van der Vight was still pleased with what he produced.
“Obviously after yesterday it was hard dealing with the expectations,” he said.
“I felt like I played some good golf but just got some bad bounces and bad breaks at times. My game was good today so if 72 is the best I can produce, that’s fine.”
Having played the front nine in eight under par on Friday, the 23-year-old endured a less eventful start on moving day, with nine consecutive pars before he made the turn.
The back nine, however, proved far more testing, with bogeys on on ten and eleven dropping him to within two of the chasing pack. Van der Vight responded, though, with an eagle on the par four 12th seeing him pull four clear at the top.
A third dropped shot of the day on 15 was cancelled out by an impressive birdie on the difficult 17th before a par on the last saw the Dutchman remain in the driving seat with 18 to play.
“I felt like I had a lot of chances on the front nine today,” Van der Vight added.
“I had some testing putts for pars that I did make and then on the back nine it was different with some putts I missed and good shots that were rewarded.”
Van der Vight is chasing his maiden HotelPlanner Tour victory after graduating from the Pro Golf Tour last year. The 23-year-old currently sits 66th on the season-long Road to Mallorca Rankings and would significantly boost his aspirations of back-to-back promotions with a victory this weekend.
“I learnt a lot today, as you do with every single round,” Van der Vight added. “I’m going to try and relax now ahead of tomorrow and see what happens.”
Belgian Matthis Besard fired the low-round-of-day (65) to hold a share of third alongside Slovakian Tadeáš Tetak, Dutchman Wouter de Vries and Swede Charlie Lindh.
Sweden’s Christofer Blomstrand and Spaniard Alfredo Garcia-Heredia share seventh position on ten under par, one shot ahead of England’s Chris Wood, German Tiger Christensen, Brazil’s Frederico Biondi Figueiredo, Frenchman Julien Sale and Czech Filip Mruzek.
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