With action taking place at four Spanish venues, we’ve reached the halfway mark at DP World Tour Q-School Stage Two and of the 11 Irish contestants, three are in the qualification places.
Max Kennedy, Cormac Sharvin and Mark Power are inside the top 24 in their respective qualifiers, while John Ross Galbraith, Paul McBride and Tom Dowdall are all within a shot, and the remaining four – Ronan Mullarney withdrew – are not out of the running.
Kennedy and Sharvin are competing at Isla Canela Links in Huelva, and Kennedy shrugged off his disappointment of missing out on the HotelPlanner Tour’s Grand Final by shooting an opening five-under 66 and following up with a 67 in round two to sit in a share of eighth place after 36 holes.
Sharvin’s second successive 68 moved him to six-under-par, and he’s part of a seven-way tie for 22nd. The Ardglass native was one-over through seven holes on the day, but birdied four of his final 12 and kept the bogeys off his card to move into the provisional advancement positions.
At Desert Springs in Almería, Mark Power, fresh off his first professional victory at the Clutch Pro Tour Championship in the UAE, followed his opening 69 with a two-under round of 70 to lie tied for 16th at -5.
John Ross Galbraith had been the leading Irishman of the five at Desert Springs after a 68, but a mixed second round that included seven birdies, a bogey, two doubles and a triple amounted to 73 and dropped him back to -3 and into a tie for 26th.
Dermot McElroy (-1) and Hugh Foley (+1) will have to record good scores in Saturday’s third round if they’re to give themselves a chance of moving on to the Final Stage in a fortnight’s time.
Both Paul McBride and Robert Moran carded rounds of level-par on day one at Golf Las Pinaillas in Albacete, and though both improved on day two, McBride’s 67 was the better of the two and he moved into a share of 26th at -4, with Moran three further back though he was on the ropes before four birdies in his final six holes breathed fresh life into his challenge.
McBride and Moran only have 23 places to play for, however, as the field contained two players less than the other venues.
At Fontanals Golf Club in Girona, Dowdall bettered his opening effort by one stroke, and the two-under 69 in round two leaves him tied for 32nd at -3. David Carey, on one-over, needs to put moving day to good use if he’s to go into the final round with anything more than the slimmest of hopes.
Desert Springs Leaderboard
Isla Canela Leaderboard
Fontanals Leaderboard
Las Pinaillas Leaderboard
