Phelan Stays in Touch

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Kevin Phelan carded a third round 76 on a tough day at Ribagolfe, where only one player broke 70 during the third round of the First Qualifying Stage Section C. 

The Waterford golfer notched up five bogies in Portugal to make the turn in 39 to finish the day in a share of 17th place, and still seven places inside the mark to earn a place at Stage Two.

Reeve Whitson was less fortunate with a 79 dropping him to 61st place, and unable to repair any of the losses from Wednesday's round  of 77.

Nicholas Grant misses the final round after his opening round 75, second round 79 already pushed him down the field, with an 85 on Thursday leaving him +23.

Up front it was American Daniel Berger who made the running after Belgium’s Thomas Pieters went from five ahead to three behind after a third round 80. He remains well on course to qualify for the Second Stage, however, with the top 24 and ties after tomorrow’s final round progressing.

Fernando Figueroa of El Salvador made the biggest move on day three of the First Qualifying Stage Section C at Bogogno as an eight under par 64 put him right on the qualifying mark with a round to go.

While Alessio Bruschi of Italy, who has led from the start, was joined at the top by Swiss amateur Joel Girrbach at 14 under par, all eyes are on who will finish among the top 24 and ties to progress to the second stage.

And it was Figueroa who caught the eye as he rattled in nine birdies and dropped just one shot to climb from tied 70th to tied 24th with a round 14 shots better than the previous day.

More than 200 players have been competing at Bogogno GC in Italy and Ribagolfe in Portugal with the top 24 and ties from both venues qualifying.

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Shaw Ready for Galgorm Challenge

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Gareth Shaw is hoping to take full advantage of his home track at Galgorm Castle Golf Club as he leads a 27-strong Irish contingent into the €170,000 Northern Ireland Open Challenge, presented by Clannah and XJET.

Shaw, who grabbed some serious headlines in his homeland with a fifth place finish in the Irish Open back in June, will have an army of home support willing him to succeed this week with an estimated crowd of 30,000 expected to flock through Galgorm’s gates over the next four days. 

“I’m looking forward to competing at home and on a course I am familiar with. Hopefully the home support will feed in with family, friends and my coaches around this week. My game is very solid and it’s a great opportunity,” said Shaw.

“I won the Ulster Youths here in ’96, and then finished in a tie for third here a couple of years ago in the EuroPro event a couple of years ago, so I have a decent bit of experience.

“You’ve got to be able to hit the ball how you want it. It’s a good course, very fair. The fairways are pretty wide in spots but if you hit bad tee shots you get punished and the greens are excellent.”

The Northern Ireland Open will also host top European players such as Portugal’s José-Felipe Lima, who is second on the Challenge Tour Rankings with €91,842. 

Lima has been so consistent all season and, with no less than eight top 10 finishes, including tied third at last week’s Rolex Trophy, he has already secured his European Tour card for next season. 

Lima is closely pursued by Italy’s Andrea Pavan and the French duo of Victor Riu and François Calmels. 

Should Calmels triumph at Galgorm he would gain automatic promotion to the main tour with three wins this season. Australia’s Daniel Gaunt, who is familiar with Galgorm having finished runner-up in a previous EuroPro Tour event, is another man to watch over the coming days.

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McGlynn Kearney and Dunne Through

Shane McGlynn qualified for the last 64 in the matchplay stage of the British Amateur Championship over the Royal Cinque Ports course on Wednesday, with Matthew McAlpin and Richard Bridges losing out in their matches.

East of Ireland champion Paul Dunne and Castlerock’s Aaron Kearney are also both through to the last 32. However Irish Close champion Cormac Sharvin failed to make it through the second round at the Kent links.
England’s Nick Marsh knocked out the highest ranked player in the field to reach the second match play round of the 118th Amateur Championship at Royal Cinque Ports.

After a delayed start due to thunder and lightning on the Kent coast, the preliminary round got under way shortly after 10am.

Marsh, from Huddersfield, mounted a strong finish, with birdies at the 15th, 16th and 17th, to eliminate Frenchman Julien Brun, who is ranked fifth in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, 4&2.

Fellow Englishman, Ben Stow enjoyed a convincing 5&4 win over Mathias Eggenberger. The University of Kentucky student took charge straight away against his Swiss opponent and was 5up at the turn. The 22-year-old from Rushmore clinched the win with five straight pars on the back nine.

Paul Kinnear notched up an impressive 3&2 win in an all-England clash against Daniel Brown. A close match was settled in the Formby player’s favour when he won the 14th, 15th and 16th holes, with a birdie on the 15th the highlight.

Young Spaniard Pep Angles defeated his compatriot Mario Galiano 4&2. The Central Arkansas Sophomore was never behind in the match. Three birdies on the front nine set him on his way and the match was decided with a birdie three on the 16th.

He was joined in the second round by Italian Riccardo Michelini, American AJ McInerney, Shane McGlynn and England’s Toby Crisp.