John Ross Galbraith has a chance to become the fourth Irishman to win on the Clutch Pro Tour this season, but he has to reel in runaway leader Harvey Byers and hold off a strong chasing pack in the final round of the Abridge Open in Essex.
The Whitehead man opened with a four-under 68 and followed with a 69 that featured three birdies in his final six holes to move to -7 and to the top of the leaderboard with the afternoon wave still to come.
By the day’s end, only one man had made it past him as Englishman Harvey Byers blitzed Abridge Golf Club with 10 birdies in an eight-under 64 that saw him open up a five-stroke gap over Galbraith and Declan O’Donovan of Australia, with another Englishman in Greg Hurley in solo fourth at -6 and a further six players at -5.
John Murphy and Dermot McElroy each shot second successive 71s to lie tied for 26th at -2, with Marc Boucher one shot behind and tied for 31st.
Paul McBride, who lost his top ranking in the Order of Merit when missing the cut in his previous start, posted a three-under 69 to make the cut on the number at +1 and every point could prove crucial at the end of the season.
Alex Maguire, who is one place behind McBride at third on the Order of Merit, missed out by the minimum alongside Robert Brazill, while Karl McCormack (+4) and Daniel Mulligan (+6) also missed out.
Leave a comment