Thistleton takes Irish Amateur lead after 68
England' s Mark Thistleton hit a course record equalling 68 to snatch the clubhouse lead at the halfway stage of the AIB Irish Amateur Open at Royal Dublin.
The 26 year old from Hayling near Portsmouth had five birdies, one bogey and 25 putts in superb effort to lead by a stroke from Scotland Paul O'Hara, who added a 71 to his opening 70.
Thiselton’s 68 equalled the day old course record set by his playing partner Eoin Arthurs of Forrest Little and his play helped Arthurs bounce back brilliantly for a very poor start to card a two over par 74 to lie just two shots off the lead in third place on two under par 142.
The Dubliner went out in five over par 40 but he was given a lift when he saw a big Forrest Little contingent come out to support him on the back nine and came home in three under par 34 with birdies the 10th, 11th and 14th and six straight pars to finish.
Rosslare's John Morris posted just the third sub-70 score of the week with a 69 lifting him to a share of fourth place on one over par 145.
140: M Thistleton (England) 72 68
141: Paul O’Hara (Scotland) 70 71
142: E Arthurs (Forrest Little) 68 74
145: F Keenan (England) 73 72, N Gorey (Lee Valley) 73 72, R Kellett (Scotland) 73 72, B Hemstock (England) 70 75, J Morris (Rossale) 76 69
146: R Cannon (L'town & B'town) 74 72
147: H Satama (Finland) 73 74
148: F Rouilleaux (France) 75 73, J Smedley (England) 75 73, J Mikkelsen (Norway) 73 75
150: R McGee (Malone) 78 72, R Leonard (Banbridge) 77 73, C Perrot (France) 76 74, M Hillson (Scotland) 76 74, J Lyons (Galway) 75 75, A Levy (France) 74 76, B Newsome (England) 70 80
151: D Bobrowski (France) 79 72, N Henderson (Scotland) 76 75, J Roth (Denmark) 73 78
152: E Mercadier (France) 78 74
153: L Eriksson (Finland) 75 78, J Lerchedahl (Denmark) 74 79
154: T Gornik (Slovenia) 80 74, E Vieilledent (France) 78 76, E Kennedy (Rosapenna) 73 81
156: M Novy (Czech Republic) 78 78
157: K Turlan (France) 84 73, R Boal (Castle) 78 79
158: R Zwahlen (France) 76 82
159: G Hall (Edenderry) 80 79
160: L Cohen-Boyer (France) 74 86
161: J Prince (England) 85 76
169: A Arnaudet (France) 91 78