ALBERTSE MOVES TWO CLEAR AT KILLEEN CASTLE
Louis Albertse leads after the second round of the Irish Challenge at Killeen Castle (Photo: Getty)
Louis Albertse fired a nine under par second round 63 to take a two-stroke lead into the weekend of the Irish Challenge at Killeen Castle where Mark Power and Gary Hurley lead the Irish challenge.
The South African, who started the day five shots back, mixed eight birdies with one eagle, dropping just one shot, to reach 12 under par for the week, two shots ahead of his compatriot Bryce Easton who holds solo second.
“It was lovely out there,” he said. “I played great, I really did. Starting off with a bogey wasn’t great and moving to two under for the tournament you still have a lot of work to do but after that I really played nicely.”
After starting his round with a dropped shot on the tenth, Albertse responded well with back-to-back gains before adding another birdie on the par five 15th. The South African would then catch fire as he made the turn, rattling off five consecutive birdies from the 18th to reach seven under for the day with five holes to play.
Better was to come, however, as Albertse chipped in for eagle on the seventh to pull clear at the top. And the 28-year-old, after a difficult start, was delighted with how he bounced back.
“You have to try and breath when you drop a shot early,” he added. “You still have 17 holes to play, and it can go either way. I think my birdie on 11 after the dropped shot was one of the better birdies of my round.
“18 was a world-class birdie, and I went onto make a couple more on the front nine which was great. Going into this week I knew this was a big golf course so I’m pretty proud of getting to nine under.”
Power carded rounds of 68, 72 to Hurley’s 70, 70 to get to four-under. Liam Nolan, Max Kennedy, Ronan Mullarney and Dermot McElroy all made it into the weekend.
Albertse currently sits 27th on the season-long Road to Mallorca Rankings and already has a runner-up finish to his name this term, coming at the Interwetten Open in June.
Despite giving himself a good chance of contending for promotion to the DP World Tour, he is looking to remain focussed with just a handful of events remaining before the Rolex Grand Final supported by The R&A.
“I’m not trying to think about the Rankings too much,” he said.
“There’s a lot of golf to go and points to be made. If you do think about it, you can fail to stay in the moment. We’re playing against world-class players week in and week out so staying to my processes it important.”
England’s Will Enefer, Dane Kristian Hjort Bressum, South African Justin Harding and Spaniard Pablo Ereno share third place on nine under par.
Scores after round two:
132 L ALBERTSE (RSA) 69 63,
134 B EASTON (RSA) 65 69,
135 W ENEFER (ENG) 64 71, K BRESSUM (DEN) 69 66, J HARDING (RSA) 65 70, P ERE?O (ESP) 67 68,
136 J MOSCATEL (ESP) 64 72, J G?TH-RASMUSSEN (DEN) 71 65, S JONES (NZL) 69 67,
137 M STEWART (SCO) 69 68, D FOOS (GER) 67 70,
138 W NIENABER (RSA) 66 72, M DECOTTIGNIES-LAFON (FRA) 69 69, W BESSELING (NED) 67 71,
139 R LUMSDEN (SCO) 72 67, J JI (NED) 70 69, H BARRON (AUS) 70 69, M VILJOEN (RSA) 66 73, H LONG (GER) 69 70, L ROSENDAHL (AM) (FIN) 69 70, M VORSTER (RSA) 69 70, J DE BRUYN (GER) 68 71, S FRIEDRICHSEN (DEN) 71 68, G GRAHAM (SCO) 67 72, F KENNEDY (ENG) 69 70, A GOFF (USA) 70 69, T TETAK (SVK) 67 72,
140 J RUTHERFORD (ENG) 70 70, M POWER (IRL) 68 72, M SOUTHGATE (ENG) 70 70, J TORRES (ESP) 70 70, A QUIROS (ESP) 68 72, C SORDET (FRA) 70 70, B BROWN (ENG) 74 66, G HURLEY (IRL) 70 70, B SKOGEN (NOR) 70 70, C BLOMSTRAND (SWE) 70 70, T JENSEN ED?N (SWE) 68 72, R FRANSSEN (SCO) 71 69, C FYFE (SCO) 66 74, J VECCHI FOSSA (ITA) 72 68,
141 C HUNTZINGER (USA) 68 73, T LEWIS (ENG) 73 68, C HANNA (USA) 72 69, R SCIOT-SIEGRIST (FRA) 73 68, B RUSCH (SUI) 67 74, B AMAT (FRA) 70 71, L VAN DER VIGHT (NED) 70 71, C FORSTER (ENG) 71 70,
142 G BLOOR (ENG) 69 73, S LOCKE (SCO) 72 70, A HORTAL (ESP) 69 73, M BESARD (BEL) 67 75, C FARR (ENG) 71 71, J CATLIN (USA) 72 70, J VOGELPOHL (USA) 69 73, C SHAUN (USA) 69 73,
143 R MULLARNEY (IRL) 69 74, C WOOD (ENG) 66 77, D MCELROY (NIR) 72 71, M KENNEDY (IRL) 75 68, G ROBERTSON (SCO) 70 73, V BJORLOW (DEN) 70 73, P PINEAU (FRA) 73 70, M WARREN (SCO) 68 75, L NOLAN (IRL) 74 69, A KLEEN (SWE) 73 70,
144 D GERMISHUYS (RSA) 68 76, L SCALISE (ITA) 72 72, R VAN VELZEN (RSA) 70 74, V CHOPRA (USA) 74 70, R KLEU (SUI) 69 75, J PATERSON (SCO) 73 71, N CARLSON (USA) 72 72, M HAMMER (GER) 71 73, C ADAMS (USA) 72 72, F MRUZEK (CZE) 75 69, M KIEFFER (GER) 70 74, H MAGNUS (ISL) 73 71,
145 L JOHNSTON (SCO) 68 77, C PURCELL (IRL) 74 71, V SIDAL SVENDSEN (DEN) 75 70, J BARCOS GARBAYO (ESP) 74 71, S THORNTON (IRL) 70 75, B VIRTO (ESP) 73 72, J WILSON (ENG) 71 74, N BACHEM (GER) 73 72, R PETERSSON (SWE) 72 73, J ANDERSEN (DEN) 71 74, J HACK (USA) 72 73, W HOPKINS (ENG) 76 69,
146 A PLANT (ENG) 70 76, Q CROKER (AUS) 74 72, J MEYER DE BECO (BEL) 72 74, M GILCHREST (USA) 74 72, L ADDABBO (ITA) 74 72, R MCGOWAN (ENG) 73 73, M GIBOUDOT (FRA) 68 78, C SHARVIN (NIR) 73 73, M ERIKSSON (SWE) 75 71,
147 L VAN MEIJEL (NED) 70 77, H BYERS (ENG) 72 75, S MURPHY (IRL) 74 73, D MULLIGAN (IRL) 74 73, J BEKIRIAN (ARM) 72 75, J SALAMA (ESP) 71 76, J FLOYDD (ENG) 72 75, R MORAN (IRL) 75 72,
148 B GILL (ENG) 77 71, C BRING (DEN) 74 74, P FOLEY (AM) (SUI) 74 74, F KJETTRUP (DEN) 73 75, T SCHMIDT (GER) 76 72, A ZEMMER (ITA) 71 77, J GOUGH (ENG) 71 77, M FEUERSTEIN (USA) 69 79, A KNAPPE (GER) 79 69,
149 A AGUILERA (ESP) 75 74, H FOLEY (IRL) 70 79, T HUNT (WAL) 77 72, J CALLES ROMAN (ESP) 75 74, J DOYLE (AM) (IRL) 72 77, T GOUVEIA (POR) 72 77, C GOUGH (ENG) 72 77, R BRAZILL (IRL) 71 78,
150 R HARRIS (ENG) 76 74, J BRUN (FRA) 75 75, S TARRIO (ESP) 70 80, R FOLEY (SUI) 73 77, K VINCENT (ZIM) 73 77, W DE VRIES (NED) 74 76, V ALVES (POR) 78 72, C CLAYCOMB (USA) 75 75,
151 P KATICH (GER) 81 70, C BRAEUNIG (GER) 77 74, A WALLIN (SWE) 74 77, C RAHM (SWE) 72 79, M HIRMER (GER) 79 72, T CARTER (ENG) 73 78,
152 A BONETA (ESP) 70 82, B ?KESSON (SWE) 75 77, P FIGUEIREDO (POR) 70 82, R KIVI (EST) 75 77, J SUGRUE (IRL) 71 81,
153 J PAGDIN (ENG) 73 80, D LANGLEY (ENG) 74 79, B BAWDEN (ENG) 74 79,
155 H LOGAN (USA) 77 78,
156 C GUICHARD (FRA) 74 82, L LANG (GER) 80 76,
159 A WINTER (ENG) 79 80,
160 B ST JOHN (IRL) 79 81,
163 D CLEMONS (ENG) 81 82,
**
OUT J GALBRAITH (NIR) 73 RT, J SERRA (ESP) RT , A NODARI (ITA) RT ,