Paul McBride is on the cusp of earning promotion to the HotelPlanner Tour after a second-round 69 lifted him into sole possession of second place at the Clutch Pro Tour Championship at Slaley Hall.
Along with Alex Maguire and John Murphy, McBride was one of three Irishmen to enter the week with the opportunity to push their way into the top three on the Order of Merit and earn a full HotelPlanner Tour card for 2027.
While Maguire’s second-round of 73 left him tied for 22nd at +1, and Murphy’s one-under 71 has him one further adrift at +2, McBride opened with a four-under 68 and continued to make his way up the leaderboard in round two.
The Island man, who began round two on the 10th, got off to a hot start and birdied three of his opening five holes but dropped a shot on 18 to make the turn at two-under for the day.
Back-to-back par-5s on holes two and three offered early birdie opportunities on the front nine, and McBride took advantage to birdie both and move to the top of the leaderboard, but a pair of late bogeys dropped him back to -6, one shot behind England’s Ben Hutchinson who moved to the top.
Hutchinson, ranked second on the Order of Merit at the start of the week, is projected to move to the number-one spot, and McBride into second, so he is on course to earn the promotion that he was targeting at the start of a season in which he claimed two victories.
Maguire is projected to remain sixth in the rankings, which would earn him seven HotelPlanner Tour starts reserved for those who finish fourth-to-seventh in the rankings, while Murphy will need to close out strongly if he’s to climb the two places required to earn his place in the top seven.
John Ross Galbraith is the next highest-placed Irishman on the Tour Championship leaderboard. The Whitehead man shot back-to-back 71s to move to -2 and into a tie for seventh, while Dermot McElroy is tied for 16th at level-par and Daniel Mulligan is alongside Maguire at +1.
Robert Brazill joined Murphy on two-over, with Marc Boucher completing the eight-strong Irish contingent at +4.
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