Max Kennedy finished strongly to remain inside the top 10 at the halfway mark of the HotelPlanner Tour’s Raiffeisenbank Golf Challenge at Kaskada Golf Club in Brno.
A four-under 67 left the Royal Dublin man in a share of fourth place after round one, but a late tee time in round two meant he’d fallen eight behind before he’s even left the practice range.
Beginning on the 10th, he reached the turn at level-par for the day having traded a single birdie and bogey, and had fallen outside of the top 15.
A birdie on the first sparked a second nine revival that included further birdies on the fifth and ninth which got him to seven-under and into a tie for sixth, five shy of leader Callum Tarren who fired a seven-under-par round of 64 in the morning to take a three-stroke lead into the weekend.
Mark Power’s three-under 68 and Conor Purcell’s 67 saw them finish the day tied for 48th at -2 and earn weekend tee times, but John Murphy narrowly missed out finishing tied for 65th at level-par, with Gary Hurley, James Sugrue, Robert Brazill and Liam Nolan also going home early.
Englishman Tarren mixed eight birdies and a bogey to move to 12-under-par for the week, three ahead of Hamish Brown, Anton Albers, Matteo Cristoni and Tatsunori Shogenji who share second spot on -10.
Tarren made a gain on the first and parred his next two holes before dropping a shot on the par four fourth. The 35-year-old then made birdie at the next three holes, making the turn in 33, and four further gains saw him take charge at the halfway stage.
“It was pretty solid,” he said. “I gave myself lots of chances, a couple of easy birdies, a couple of holed putts.
“I’m just trying to hit in position and give myself as many chances as possible.
“I’m really pleased with my overall game. I made a sloppy bogey at four, and I was a bit annoyed about that, I said to my caddie, Jack, we just needed to keep doing what we were doing, stress-free golf, try and hit the fairways.”
He bounced back from his third bogey of the week with three gains on the following three holes, and after missing the cut in his last three starts across the DP World Tour and HotelPlanner Tour, Tarren has made the most of a two week break to change his mindset coming into this week.
“It was pleasing to get back on track. I’ve changed my mindset. I had a two-week break and I haven’t been enjoying golf for quite a while now.
“I brought my caddie out from my local golf club to come and caddie for me, and we’re just trying to keep it light and execute golf shots.
“It’s been a tough last year for me, managing life on and off the golf course hasn’t been easy. It’s been pretty difficult over the last eight months, so something needed to change.
“I’ve told myself that for the remainder of the season, I need to go and enjoy myself. We’re very privileged to be playing golf for a living.
“I’ve proved to myself that when I’m in this mindset, I’m pretty dangerous.”
Tarren’s opening round was delayed by two hours on Thursday due to a storm in the local area, and he admitted that some rest would be needed ahead of a promising weekend as he is on the hunt for his maiden HotelPlanner Tour win.
“It was a late finish last night and an early start this morning, but I’m just going to stick to my game plan. There’s certain tee shots and holes out there where I will press it and be aggressive but there is some where you just hit the fairway and give myself a chance.
“I’ve putted nicely over the last few days. My game has been in a good place from tee to green, but as soon as you start holing a few putts, you shoot scores like I have done.”
Shogenji, Cristoni, Albers and Brown all share second spot on -9, two-strokes ahead of Kennedy, Bradley Baldwin, Marc Hammer, and Matt Gilchrest who share sixth place on seven-under.
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