Defending champion Howard seven behind halfway leader Hill at Baltray
Joshua Hill added a 71 to his opening 67 to lead by a shot on six under from County Louth’s Stuart Grehan. Pic: ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo
Defending champion David Howard likely needs to shoot the lights out in the final two rounds if he’s to retain his East of Ireland Men’s Amateur Open crown at Baltray.
The Fota Island man birdied three holes in a row from the second to get into the red before three bogeys — at the fifth, seventh and ninth — forced him to birdie the last to card a one-under 71 in a breezy and sometimes showery second round.
At one-over par, he’s tied for 20th but still with a glimmer of hope as he’s just seven strokes behind Galgorm Castle’s Joshua Hill with 36 holes still to play.
The 22-year-old from Ballymena was pleased to add a 71 to his opening 67 to lead by a shot on six under from County Louth’s Stuart Grehan and by four strokes from Irish Amateur Open champion Patrick Keeling, who carded a four under 68 to share third with Edmondstown’s Thomas Abom and Belvoir Park’s Darcy Hogg on two-over.
“I was just trying to stay patient out there,” said 2022 Mullingar Scratch Cup winner Hill, who has just completed his junior year at South Alabama University.
“Got off to a rocky start, but I said there are so many holes left to play, you never know what happens.
“I played the next seven holes really solid. I was happy to get back to level par after nine. I had a really hot start to the front nine, but then stumbled in a little bit, so I was happy to grab that birdie on nine.”
As for the final round, he said: “It’s a long day tomorrow so you’re going to have to just stay patient and take it just one shot at a time.
“Weather looks like it is going to be a bit iffy, so you've got to stay in there and just one shot at a time and plot your way around, and then hope for the best, but there’s still a long way to go.”
Grehan was frustrated by his performance on the greens, but a three-under 69 still left him just a shot off the pace.
“I had so many chances,” said Grehan, who won the East and the South in 2015 before capturing the Irish Close and Irish Amateur Open crowns on his return to the amateur ranks last year, leading to a Walker Cup call-up.
“I let a lot slip today, but look, it was a good round of golf. I played nicely, so hopefully they drop tomorrow.” He knows from experience that a lot can happen over the last two rounds and reckons that two more 69s and a 10-under-par total might be enough to get the job done.
“I’d take 10 now and sit in the clubhouse, but I just don't know. I don't think it's going to be too windy tomorrow, so I feel like scoring is going to be quite strong,” he said.
“We'll try and go a little bit lower than that, I think, because someone's going to shoot two good rounds tomorrow.” Thurles’ Aaron Ryan shot 71 to lead the Munster challenge on level par with Kinsale’s Robert Walsh tied for 20th with Howard on one-over after his 72.
The cut for the top 42 and ties fell at three-over 147, leaving Lahinch’s South of Ireland champion Jonathan Keane a shot outside the mark after his 78.
138 Joshua Hill (Galgorm Castle) 67 71;
139 Stuart Grehan (Co. Louth) 70 69;
142 Patrick Keeling (Roganstown) 74 68, Thomas Abom (Edmondstown) 72 70, Darcy Hogg (Belvoir Park) 72 70;
143 Jordan Boles (Carton House) 75 68, Jack McDonnell (Royal Dublin) 71 72, Caolan Rafferty (Dundalk) 72 71, Keith Egan (Carton House) 74 69, Liam Abom (Edmondstown) 73 70, Gavin Tiernan (Co. Louth) 71 72;
144 TJ Ford (Co. Sligo) 75 69, Gerard Dunne (Co. Louth) 77 67, Patrick Curran (Edmondstown) 73 71, Aaron Ryan (Thurles) 73 71, Matthew McClean (Malone) 75 69, Dylan Keating (Seapoint) 70 74, Evan Farrell (Co. Louth) 73 71, Padraig O Dochartaigh (Gweedore) 74 70;
145 Robert Walsh (Kinsale) 73 72, Nicolai Rosli (Oslo) 70 75, David Howard (Fota Island) 74 71, Sean Sweeney (Gweedore) 73 72, David Kitt (Athenry) 72 73, James Hewitt (Tandragee) 76 69, Adam Fahey (Portmarnock) 75 70;
146 Kyle McCarron (North West) 75 71, Darragh Flynn (Carton House) 74 72, Luke Cunningham (Galway Bay) 76 70, Patrick Martin (Carrick-On-Shannon) 76 70, Aaron Marshall (Lisburn) 73 73, Mark Muldoon (Royal Dublin) 77 69, Colm Campbell (Warrenpoint) 78 68, Simon Ward (Belvoir Park) 75 71, Quentin Carew (The Heritage) 73 73, Ciaran Murphy (Grange) 73 73, Conor Hickey (Dooks) 73 73;
147 Robbie Cannon (Balbriggan) 76 71, David Reddan (Castleknock) 73 74, James Fox (Portmarnock) 72 75, Knut Magnus Erlandsen (Baerum) 75 72, Conor McCarthy (Headfort) 76 71, Fionn Dobbin (Malone) 75 72, Alex Kerins (Carton House) 74 73, William O’Riordan (Greystones) 75 72.
148 Conor Murtagh (The Island) 77 71, Jonathan Keane (Lahinch) 70 78, Eoin Sullivan (Portmarnock) 76 72, Adam Allahbachani (Powerscourt) 75 73, Harley Phipps (Co. Louth) 76 72, Dylan Holmes (Greystones) 74 74, Mark Cadden (Roganstown) 74 74, Benjamin Oberholzer (Clandeboye) 75 73;
149 Jonathan O’Sullivan (Cork) 76 73, Stephen Coulter (Warrenpoint) 78 71, Louis Goodman (Co. Louth) 74 75, Michael Roche (Harpenden Common) 76 73, Harry O’Hara (Clandeboye) 75 74, Aodhagan Brady (Co. Sligo) 80 69, Corey Scullion (Moyola Park) 77 72, Harry McArdle (Warrenpoint) 77 72, Paul Coughlan (Castleknock) 75 74;
150 Oscar Bach (Oslo) 78 72, Robert Abernethy (Dun Laoghaire) 78 72, Joe O’Neill (Berehaven) 77 73, Eoin Murphy (Dundalk) 76 74, Oliver Scriven (Pearl Valley) 75 75, Isaac Oliver (Glasson) 77 73, Sean Keeling (Roganstown) 75 75, John William Burke (Ballyhaunis) 76 74;
151 Neil Patterson (Baltinglass) 77 74, Ryan Griffin (The Royal Dublin) 76 75, Daniel O'Brien (Co. Louth) 79 72, David Lally (Blainroe) 78 73, Ben Cahill (Dundalk) 79 72, Morgan Cain (Fota) 76 75;
152 Bruce MacDonald (Lisburn) 77 75, David Shiel (Enniscrone) 79 73, Leon Sebastian Hauger (Oslo) 82 70, Charlie McDonnell (Concra Wood) 77 75, Harris Fleming (Galgorm Castle) 75 77, Ryan Murray (Balmoral) 76 76, Andrew Mulholland (Castlerock) 76 76, Cian Harkin (The Island) 76 76;
153 Harry Morgan (Donabate) 82 71, Fergal Coyle (Athenry) 80 73, John Cunningham (Carton House) 78 75, Gavin O’Neill (Malahide) 80 73, Simon Gallivan (Killarney) 78 75, Cornelius Farhang (Oslo) 78 75, Cormac Ó Muirithe (Belmullet) 81 72;
154 David O'Malley (Black Bush) 79 75, Luke Furlong (Wexford) 80 74, Ryan O'Doherty (Enniscrone/Co. Louth) 77 77, David Bohill (Co. Louth) 80 74, Finn Jolly (Dun Laoghaire) 80 74;
155 Luke Kelly (Dunfanaghy) 79 76, Jack McKenna (Co. Louth) 75 80, Mikie Grealy (Galway Bay) 78 77, James O’Rourke (Naas) 80 75, Graham Callaghan (Co. Louth) 78 77, James Walsh (Kinsale/Douglas) 80 75, Ben Phipps (Taylormade, Usa) 77 78, William Walshe (Delgany) 77 78, Frederik Richardson (Byneset) 83 72;
156 Seamus Cullen (Pga National Slieve Russell) 82 74, Calum Ward (Carton House) 77 79, Dwayne Mallon (Dungannon) 81 75, Kyle Honer (Roganstown) 78 78, Conor Stapleton (Westport) 80 76;
157 James Park (Co. Sligo) 77 80, Paraic McGrath (Galway Bay) 79 78, Brian Doran (Millicent) 78 79, Sean Downes (The Royal Dublin) 78 79, James Maginn (Mourne) 72 85, Matthew Giles (Greenore) 84 73;
158 Matthew Dodd (St. Anne’s) 85 73, Cole Henderson (Galgorm Castle) 79 79;
159 Marcus Goosen (Sunnfjord) 81 78, Jamie Anderson (Greystones) 79 80;
160 Barry Howlin (The Heritage) 83 77, Marius Kvande (Surnadal) 79 81, Ronan O’Reilly (Co. Louth) 81 79, Sam Allister (Belvoir Park) 82 78;
161 Eoin Burrows (Belvoir Park) 84 77;
163 Julius Sommer (Penati) 83 80;
166 Mikkel Bergum Johansen (Drøbak) 83 83;
168 Ross Healion (New Forest) 83 85;
WD Jenson Boyce (Royal Portrush) 78 WD, Jamal Sabir (Moate) 81 WD; Gary Collins (Rosslare) WD;
DNF Shane Irwin (Hermitage)
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