Luke Donnelly fired a four-under-par 68 to move into contention heading into the final day of the HotelPlanner.com PGA EuroPro Tour’s FORE Business Championship.
The 21-year-old Mount Juliet professional posted six birdies in a superb effort and finds himself just three shots behind the lead in share of 4th spot on seven-under-par at East Sussex National Golf Resort & Spa
Two shots further adrift is Tim Rice who followed his flawless five-under-par opening round 67 with a slightly frustrating level par 72 but remains in the hunt for the title heading into the final day.
It was a case of one step forward and the same back for the Limerick professional who traded three birdies with three dropped shots on a tougher test today to find himself in a share of 10th spot on minus-five.
The cut for the top-50 and ties fell at minus one and unfortunately that was six too many for North West’s Brian McElhinney who struggled to get anything going in round two. McElhinney was in a good position after posting an even par 72 to start but dropped six shots to slump to a 77, well below the required mark.
At the top, Matt Cort carded a second round of 68 (-4) to hold a one-shot lead heading into the final round.
Cort (Beedles Lake Golf Club) who started the day as one of five golfers in a share of the lead, had a steady start to his second round collecting one birdie in his first nine holes. However, on his back nine the birdies came thick and fast, three of them back-to-back thrust Cort into the driving seat with six holes left to play.
And another birdie with just one bogey on his penultimate hole of the day completed a solid performance for the 2016 Order of Merit winner.
“It was a solid round I put together today, the weather presented some issues at the start of the day with some heavy rain, but it cleared up as we got onto the back nine.
“I’ve been hitting the ball nicely this week, my driving has been really strong and around a course like this that favours the big hitters, which is something I’m not, that is really important to my success.
“I’m paired up with an old friend in Chris Gane for the final round which I’m really looking forward to; I’ve known him for a long time as we’ve travelled the world together through golf so I’m sure we will have a good day.
“I just want to keep competing at every tournament I’m involved in, I was playing on the Challenge Tour last season and it didn’t really work out as I planned but it’s nice to come back and be in the mix again on the EuroPro Tour.”
Chris Gane, a winner on the EuroPro Tour this season, sits a shot back from Cort after carding a second of 67 (-5) the joint lowest round of the day, as did Luke Cornford who sits in third spot with an overall score of -8.
Click here for full leaderboard
Leave a comment