It was a second round delight at Golf Sempach in Switzerland for both Ronan Mullarney and Mark Power as they both pieced together impressive four-under-par rounds to get inside the three-under-par cutline of the HotelPlanner Tour’s Swiss Challenge.
Mullarney, who was one-over-par after Thursday’s opening round, made birdie at the par-4 second before a sore double-bogey came at the par-3 third to get him back to even-par for the week. That early mishap would be the only one that the Galway man would experience on Friday, as the 30-year-old shot back into form – closing out the front nine with birdies at the seventh and eighth.
One-under after nine holes, Mullarney made another birdie at the par-4 14th before a moment of brilliance came at the 17th. Sitting on the cutline with two to play, Mullarney made golf look simple with an eagle to give him some comfort room on the last as he posted an impressive 67 to sit T23 heading into round two.
Kilkenny’s Mark Power finished Thursday’s opening round in excellent style, and he began Friday’s second round in the same fashion. The Mount Juliet man made three birdies in the first six holes to see him climb the leaderboard early on.
Power made his first bogey at the par-4 10th but that didn’t faze the 25-year-old as he almost replicated his stellar Thursday finish closing out the second round.
Power finished birdie-eagle-birdie on Thursday, and nearly did it again as he went birdie-eagle-bogey on the final three holes on Friday to also post a four-under-par 67, joining Mullarney in T23.
Four Irish golfers failed to make the cut, one of them being Dermot McElroy who was in a good position after the opening round. McElroy was two-under-par after 18-holes and needed a red figure round to get inside the cutline but that unfortunately didn’t come. McElroy posted an even-par 71 to remain at two-under and outside the cutline.
John-Ross Galbraith also needed a red figure round to make the cut but he too could only manage an even-par second round, meaning he crashed out of the weekend at one-under.
Both Cormac Sharvin and Gary Hurley left themselves with a mountain to climb after a poor first round showing. Sharvin posted a two-over-par round to take him to five-over, as Hurley managed to forget about the horrors of Thursday’s eight-over-par round to post a one-under-par 70.
India’s Veer Ahlawat posted an extraordinary bogey-free 10-under second round to join England’s Matthew Southgate for the lead at 12-under.
Making four birdies on the front nine, Ahlawat made six birdies in a row on the back nine to rocket to the top of the leaderboard.
“I’m really pleased, had a really solid day out there. I wasn’t holing putts in the first round but I’m happy that I was holing putts today,” said Ahlawat. “I think all parts of my game are really solid right now, so I’m happy,” he added.
Joint leader Southgate also posted a bogey free round as he went seven-under on Friday. The co-leaders are followed by France’s Mathieu Decottignies-Lafon and England’s George Bloor who hold T3 at 11-under.
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