Ronan Mullarney watched on in agony as a birdie putt at the last refused to drop but his nine-under round of 60 gave him a one-stroke lead going into the final round of the Alps Tour’s Biarritz Cup.
The Galway native began the day at -6 and one shot off the lead, and two sets of back-to-back birdies on the front – three and four, and eight and nine – had him at -10 overall as he made the turn.
Further birdies on 11 and 13 kept the round ticking over nicely, before an eagle on the par-5 15th, followed by another birdie on the 16th left him needing to play the final two in one-under to record a magical round in the 50s.
Sadly, it wasn’t to be, but two pars were enough to take sole possession of the lead with French amateur Rudy Sautron in hot pursuit at -14 and a further two-stroke gap to Italian Matteo Cristoni in solo third.
“I’m delighted with how I played today,” Mullarney said. “I shot a decent score yesterday, but it wasn’t as clean as it was today. It was a little bit less of a struggle, and a few more putts dropped, so I was happy.”
He credited his preparation for the performance, adding, “I studied the course a bit before I came here, and I truly believe this is a strategy golf course—it’s not very long. I was able to set my strategy ahead of time, and now I’m putting it into play as much as possible, relying on my wedges and putting.”
Despite the strong finish, there was a hint of unfinished business, as he continues to chase a place in the top five in the Order of Merit and promotion back to the HotelPlanner Tour for 2026.
“It would have been nice to drop the last putt on 18, but I guess it sums up golf pretty well when you shoot 60 and still feel a bit disappointed,” Mullarney reflected. “Hopefully tomorrow I can put together something similar.”
Robert Moran is next best of the Irish on -7 and sharing 19th with Michael Young one further adrift and Hugh Foley missing the cut on -1 after a one-over 70.
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