Moriarty slips to sixth in Saint-Omer Open as Dinwiddie hits the front

IRELAND’S Colm Moriarty, who topped the Saint-Omer Open leaderboard alongside Martin Wiegele overnight, hit a disappointing two-over-par 73 to finish in joint sixth, three shots adrift of England’s Robert Dinwiddie in France yesterday.

Sat, 19 Jun, 2010 - 01:00

James Wilson

Dinwiddie fired a superb six-under-par 65 to take a one-shot lead over Austria’s Wiegele heading into the third round of the

Dinwiddie, the current Challenge Tour leader, is trying to win a place on the European Tour next season and admitted it was difficult keeping the importance of the tournament from his mind.

Dinwiddle said: “You try to downplay the importance. Really you’ve just got to treat it like any other event, and just try to hit the best shot you can.”

Wiegele failed to build on his first-round 66 but his par 71 kept him one shot clear in second ahead of England’s Jamie Elson and Matt Haines, and Mark Haastrup of Switzerland.

Meanwhile, Mike Cunning of the US is the leader after the first round of The Ryder Cup Wales Seniors Open at Royal Porthcawl as the 51-year-old from Phoenix took advantage of near-perfect conditions at the iconic south Wales venue to post a superb seven under par 65 to give him a one shot lead over former Ryder Cup star, Italian Costantino Rocca.

Eamonn Darcy is one of the two leading Irish players after a round of 70 put him two under along with Des Smyth. Jimmy Heggarty shot a one under par 71.

Denis O’Sullivan is level par are after a round of 72, Eddie Polland is two over after a round of 74 while Christy O’Connor Jnr was four over on 76.

British pair Georgina Simpson and Vikki Laing were joint second, one shot behind leader Kristie Smith at the end of the first day of the Deutsche Bank Ladies Swiss Open.

The event was due to start on Thursday but after persistent rain the competition was reduced to 54 holes.

Ireland’s Rebecca Coakley and Krystle Caithness, of Scotland, were in a seven-way tie for seventh while Melissa Reid, who was runner-up last year, was in a 16-way tie for 17th.