Six Scots survive PGA EuroPro Tour second-round cut

Henry in with a shout of £10,000 jackpot prize

Only six Scots survived the second-round cut in the PGA EuroPro Tour event at which three English and a Welshman share the lead on 135 at the Oxfordshire Golf Club.
John Henry (Clydebank and Dist) is in with a shout of the £10,000 prize after a second-round 65 for 136 - only one off the pace.
Other Scots to qualify for the final 18 holes were Craig Sutherland (65-139), Jack McDonald(74-140), Callum Macaulay (71 for 140), Michael Stewart (70-142) and Louis Gaughan (71 for 143).
Among the Scots who failed to reach the 143 qualifying limit was Paul McKechnie (Braid Hills) who had a quadruple bogey 9 at the par-5 17th in compiling a 75 for 147. A par would have put him among the qualifiers!


SCOTS' SCORES
136 J Henry (Clydebank and Dist) 71 65 (T5)
139 C Sutherland (Lynx Golf) 74 65 (T11)
140 J McDonald (Kilmarnock Barassie) 66 74, C Macaulay 69 71 (T14)
142 M Stewart (Troon Welbeck) 72 70 (T34)
143 L Gaughan (Bathgate) 72 71 (T42)

MISSED THE CUT (143 and better qualified) 
145 J McColl (Kingsbarns PA) 71 74
146 Z Saltman (Archerfield Links) 75 71
147 C Lawrie (Paul Lawrie GC) 72 75, K Nicol (Paul Lawrie GC) 74 73, P McKechnie (Braid Hills) 72 75
148 W Booth (Eastwood) 76 72
150 F Moore (Glenbervie) 72 78, M Patterson (Kilmacolm) 78 72, R Campbell (Falkirk) 77 73
152 J Duff (Newmachar) 72 80
155 S Borrowman 76 79

 Four share lead at nine-under-par with 18 holes to go

SUMMARY BY NICK TEALE

Mark Laskey, Alex Wrigley, Craig Hinton and Jack Harrison will begin the final round of the FORE Business Championship tied for the nine-under-par lead in the HotelPlanner.com PGA EuroPro Tour event at The Oxfordshire.

Race To Desert Springs Order of Merit leader Matthew Cort (Beedles Lake Golf Club; 65, 71) and John Henry (Clydebank and District; 71, 65) are just one shot off the lead in fifth.

Wrigley (Hartlepool Golf Club; 66, 69) has been in contention ahead of the final round of the last two EuroPro Tour events, but above par final rounds at Caversham Heath and East Sussex National saw him slip outside the top ten. 

Hinton (LJD Technology Services) is playing at his home course in just his fifth event of the EuroPro season. He had two top-three finishes last season and rounds of 68 and 67 have put him in line for a first EuroPro Tour win.

Harrison (Wildwood Golf Club) shot an unblemished second-round 65. An eagle at the 7^th combined with five birdies saw him rise to the top of the leaderboard. 

Laskey (Brocket Hall/Team Honma) was first to return to the clubhouse on nine under, shooting a four-under-par 68 in his second round. The Welshman is ninth on the tour money list, from which the top five at the end of the season earn a card on the 2017 Challenge Tour card. The top six on the Race To Desert Springs at the end of this tournament will also be exempt from the first stage of European Tour qualifying school.

“A win this week would be pretty special with European Tour School cut off being this week,” said Laskey. “I am ninth at the moment, so a win would be second. 

“I won’t think about it too much though. I really like the course and it is nice to shoot a good score and tomorrow I will try and shoot under par and just enjoy it.

“My game feels good at the moment. My putting is good and I feel I am in control of my game. 

“I have eased back on the power with drivers to keep it in play and it has been target golf out there, so it has been quite nice to throw wedges at flags and convert a few of them. I have played well and had two eagles which was a nice injection into the scorecard.

“In the heat, your hands can get quite wet so you have to change gloves quite a lot and during the first round I had my umbrella up all day to keep out of the heat; that probably saved me a shot.”

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

The FORE Business Championship is a 54-hole strokeplay event with a cut to be made after the second round. Spectator entry is free throughout the event and live scoring can be found at www.europrotour.com.

A two-hour highlights package from the FORE Business Championship will be broadcast on Sky Sports on Tuesday, September 6.