Hutcheon misses cut by one but Lawrie cousins are in the picture


By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Greig Hutcheon missed the cut by one shot after a second-round 69 in the EuroPro Tour's Irish Masters at Ballykisteen Golf and Country Club, Tipperary, Ireland.
Hutcheon's opening round of 73 was the millstone round the PLGC Inchmarlo player's neck but he did have five birdies second time round, including the 16th and 18th. In the final analysis it was a bogey at the 17th that had him on the wrong side of the qualifying mark of 141 and better.
But there was good news for the North-east with cousins Craig and Sean Lawrie qualifying with ease for the final round in joint seventh and 16th places respectively.
Craig had an eagle 3 at the long third and birdies at the seventh, 11th, 15th and 16th in halves of 35 and 33. He is four shots behind the leader, Irishman Niall Turner who has scored 67-66 for 133.
Along with Hutcheon, John Duff (Newmachar) again failed to play to the form that has provided so many wins on the North-east Alliance circuit. He shot 74-76 for 150, missing the cut by nine strokes.

EUROPRO TOUR: IRISH MASTERS
Ballykisteen Golf and Country Club, Tipperary.
133 Niall Turner (Ire) 67 66
134 Jack Harrison (Eng) 67 67, B Robinson (Eng) 68 66, M Collins (Eng) 67 67.

SCOTS' SCORES
137 C Lawrie (Paul Lawrie GC) 69 68 (T7).
138 S Lawrie (Paul Lawrie GC) 68 70 (T16)
139 P Shields (Paul Lawrie GC) 73 66, J McColl (Kingsbarns Pro Acad) 71 68, W Booth (Pitlochry Golf) 68 71 (T30)
140 C Macaulay (Tulliallan) 71 69, D Kay (Renaissance) 71 69 (T37)
141 J Taylor (unatt) 71 70, N Henderson (Renaissance) 69 72 (T46)

MISSED THE CUT
142 J Henry (Clydebank and Dist) 69 73, R Campbell (Golf in Scotland) 70 72, D Hendry (Blackstar) 72 70, G Hutcheon (PLGC Inchmarlo) 73 69 (T57).
143 J Gallagher (Duddingston) 70 73 (T75)
144 L Gaughan (Bathgate) 73 71
145 L Allan (Alva) 73 72 (T95)
146 J Mullaney (unatt) 70 76 (T107)
148 P Robinson (Largs) 74 74 (T119)
149 C O'Neil (Mearns Castle) 77 72 (T127)
150 J Duff (Newmachar) 74 76 (T134)

Field of 156

IRISHMAN TURNER LEADS BY ONE ON HOME GROUND

NICK TEALE'S SUMMARY

Niall Turner will take a one-shot lead over a bunched field into the final round of the Great National Hotels Irish Masters at Great National Ballykisteen Golf Hotel.

 

The Irishman shot a six under par second-round 66 to lead on -11 in the HotelPlanner.com PGA EuroPro Tour event at the Tipperary resort.

 

A trio of Englishmen - Jack Harrison (Wildwood Golf Club; 67, 67), Ben Robinson (The Vale Golf and Country Club; 68, 66) and Miles Collins (Stoke by Nayland Golf Club; 67, 67) - are one back on -10.

 

“All parts of my game have been pretty good so far,” said Turner. “If you drive it nicely out here you have a lot of short irons in. I have driven well so far and my wedges have been good so I have given myself a lot of birdie changes.

 

“This is my first time at Ballykisteen - it is a really enjoyable course to play and it is in great condition. It will probably be similar scoring tomorrow. If you get to 16 or 17 under that would be tough to beat but there is a very low one out there so you are going to need to keep making birdies.

 

“I am a full Asian Tour member. I’m hoping to play some more EuroPro over the summer but I missed Q School as I was over in Asia, so hopefully a good finish this week and I can play some more EuroPro over the summer.”

 

Chris Lloyd (The Kendleshire; 69, 67) and Mark Staunton (Delgany Golf Club; 69, 67) share fifth on eight under and there are nine golfers a further shot behind.

 

A cut to the leading 50 players and ties has now been made with all those three under par or better advancing to play Friday’s final round.

 

Spectator entry is free of charge and live scoring can be found at www.europrotour.com. Extensive highlights of the event will be broadcast on Sky Sports on Tuesday, May 23.