Moran comes out of the mist to take the lead at The Island

Play suspended for almost two hours as 2016 champion Campbell makes a push, moving up to joint second

Sat, 14 May, 2022 - 22:40

Staff

Robert Moran (Castle) leads the field at the Flogas Irish Men’s Amateur Open after a fog-delayed third round at The Island Golf Club.

The leading group of Moran, Marc Boucher (Carton House) and Ryan Griffin (Ballybofey & Stranorlar) had reached just the 5th fairway when a mist rolled in from the Irish Sea, significantly impacting visibility. Play was suspended for an hour and 45 minutes before players were able to head back onto the course to finish their third rounds.

Before the break, Dundalk’s Caolan Rafferty was finding form, posting 4 birdies on his opening 9 and ultimately posting a round of 68 sending him 43 spots up the leaderboard.

“I went out with a care-free attitude because I was either going to make the cut or miss it,” explained the 2019 Walker Cup player. “I wasn’t playing great the last few days, but I changed the putter this morning and held a few nice putts today and that was the difference.”

The 2016 Flogas Irish Men’s Amateur Open Champion Colm Campbell (Warrenpoint) also found form on the back 9 at The Island. Birdies on the 10th, 15th and 16th would contribute to his round of 69, catapulting him into a tie for 2nd.

“Yeah, I played lovely. It’s been trending in the right direction. I ended up making bogey on 8 after the restart from a ropey enough couple of shots so I had to say to myself to switch back on. I made two nice swings coming down 9 and then I got into a good rhythm on the back 9. The delay didn’t help obviously as we were going at a nice pace beforehand but it’s the same for everyone.” In the 6 years since his victory at Royal Dublin, Campbell has gotten married and welcomed his daughter to the World, but he continues to show determination to compete.

“Things have slightly changed since then obviously!” he laughed. “But I’m still ambitious and still want to try and compete. I wasn’t here to make up the numbers, obviously the goal is to come here and give myself a chance of winning on the last day. So, I’ve put myself into a nice position going into tomorrow which is what we want to do."

The 54 hole cut fell at 16-over with 59 players progressing to the final round tomorrow.