News from EuroPro Tour in Ireland

Saltman shakes things up in Ireland

Elliot Saltman, Andrew Bradley and Lloyd Kennedy share the lead going into the final round of the Faithlegg Irish Championship in Waterford at five under par.
Bradley, from Doncaster, was one of two players to shoot five under for the day, picking up seven birdies in a terrific second round, dropping just two shots in wet conditions and improving dramatically on his level par score on Wednesday.
Saltman (Aegon) was two under going into the second round and quickly turned that into four under with birdies on the first two holes. He picked up three more birdies on the back nine, and despite a couple of dropped shots, he was happy with the way the day panned out.
“I enjoyed today, there was great banter with the guys I was playing with who were also playing well and I think that helps your game,” said Saltman. “I dropped a couple of stupid shots but that’s going to happen, so overall I’m pretty pleased.
“The overnight rain made the greens softer – they really are in immaculate condition. If you get your putter going here you are going to go low.”
Kennedy’s solid tournament continued, with five birdies in his round of three under adding to his two under in the first round.
“I played better today, my short game was good yesterday but tee to green wasn’t,” said the 23 year-old. “I improved on that today and although I missed a few chances I’m happy with my score.”
Kennedy and Saltman could be paired together, which is something that could benefit them both as they have played together already on the Tour this year.
“You’ve got to have nerves going into the final round as it shows it means something,” said Kennedy. “I played with Elliot at The Shire London. He’s a good player and a good lad and I enjoyed it last time, so hopefully we’ll be playing together in the final round.”
Michael Skelton, Ben Jones and Richard Gurney all shot six under to improve their positions. Skelton (The Wynyard Club) struck five straight birdies from the eighth to add to one on the second, not dropping a shot all day to move to four under where he is joined by Irishman Noel Fox (Team Ireland – MMI) who could have been five under had he not bogeyed 17 after recording five birdies up to there.
Jones (Cuddington GC) moves to level par completing a 12-shot swing from his six over in the opening round, a bogey at 18 preventing him from being one under, while Gurney (Golf Data Labs/Kings Norton) moves to one under.
Welshman Mark Laskey (The Shire) blitzed the back nine to move to three under, with four birdies after the 13th taking him to four under for the day. Tom Haylock (HES) is also three under after going round one under today, starting with a bogey at 10 but picking up an eagle at the fourth in another steady round.
The round of the day though belonged to Irishman Gregory Bowden (Hermitage GC) who shot seven under. Robert McGuirk posted the course record here last year at eight under, and Bowden looked like challenging that with seven birdies through 14.
He bogeyed 17 but picked up another birdie at the last to move to two under for the tournament. Overnight leader Crue Elliot couldn’t build on his four under first round, falling to one under with a 75. He eagled the first after shooting two over down the back nine starting on the 10th, but bogeyed six and double bogeyed the ninth.
The projected cut is one over and the final round begins at 8am tomorrow (Friday) with live scoring available at http://www.europrotour.com/
SECOND ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 144 (2 x 72)
139 E Saltman (Sco), A Bradley (Eng), L Kennedy (Eng).
14 M Skelton (Eng), N Fox (Ire).
142 G Brown (Sco), B Hume (Sco), P Hendricksen (Eng), D Marmion (Eng), M McDermott (Ire), D Ley (Eng), M Ford (Eng), T Ferreia (SAf), P Dooley (Ire), G Bowden (Ire), M Hamer (Eng), A Constable (Wal), R Steele (Eng).
Other scores:
144 M Kerr (Sco) 74 70 (jt 30th).
145 G Gordon (Sco) 75 70 (jt 39th).
+Only players with 36-hole totals of 145 or better qualified for Friday's final round.
MISSED THE CUT
147 J Doherty (Sco) 73 74, C Campbell (Sco) 76 71.
148 L Kelly (Sco) 74 74.
149 C Nicoll 78 71.
151 P Doherty (Sco).
152 N Mitchell (Sco) 79 73.
156 S Mackie (Sco) 80 76.
158 S Keane (Sco) (am) 81 77.
164 S Clydesdale (Sco) 87 77.