Caldwell on track at Moyvalley

Jonathan Caldwell recovered from a rogue double bogey midway through his round to keep his victory dream alive in the €150,000 Challenge of Ireland at Moyvalley.

The 25-year old Ulsterman is lurking just a stroke behind Sweden’s Ake Nilsson (68) after a second successive 68 left him tied with Belgium's Nicolas Colsaerts on eight under par.

Jonny looking goodStruggling to keep his playing privileges on the main tour as he languishes €120,000 outside the top 115, he’s determined to grab what could prove to be a card-saving chance on the second tier tour.

Targeting a cheque for €24,000 that would catapult him into the top 15 on the Challenge Tour rankings, the Q-School graduate birdied the seventh and eagled the eighth before recovering from a double bogey at the ninth with birdies at the 12th, 15th and 18th.

“I’m very pleased with how I’m striking the ball at the moment," he said. "I’m also making very few mistakes, which is the key to scoring well out there. I found the deep rough for the first time in 36 holes today, and walked off with a double bogey. So that shows the importance of staying on the short stuff.

“I’d love to be there or thereabouts come Sunday. I haven’t won a tournament since turning pro, so to do it in Ireland would be great.”

Derry’s Michael McGeady fired course record 66 - equalled by Colsaerts late in the day - to share 11th place with Glasson’s Colm Moriarty (70) on four under with 17-year old Sligo amateur Michael Durcan the next best of the Irish on one under after brilliant 68.

Moriarty had GUI national coach Neil Manchip on his bag and the Scot began a busy day by helping Boys international Durcan correct a fault in his set up.

“Neil gave a few tips before I went off and I stood further away, visualised my target a bit more and swung free,” said Durcan. “I only missed a couple of fairways.”

The cut fell at two-over par which meant that 10 of the 26 Irish challengers made the weekend including Cian McNamara (74), Tim Rice (73) and Niall Turner (73). However, Waterville's David Higgins missed by one after a costly visit to the water at the 18th led to a bogey six and a 74.

Challenge of Ireland presented by Moyvalley, Champions Club Moyvalley (Par 72)

135 Å Nilsson (Swe) 67 68,
136 N Colsaerts (Bel) 70 66, J Caldwell (Nir) 68 68,
137 R Coles (Eng) 68 69,
138 R Davies (Wal) 71 67, G Hutcheon (Sco) 68 70,
139 P Gustafsson (Swe) 70 69, A Mellor (Eng) 72 67, P Whiteford (Sco) 71 68, P Kaensche (Nor) 68 71,
140 M McGeady (Irl) 74 66, P Baker (Eng) 68 72, C Moriarty (Irl) 70 70, M Haastrup (Den) 70 70, F Calmels (Fra) 72 68,
141 A Marshall (Eng) 70 71, M Tullo (Chi) 76 65, J Hepworth (Eng) 70 71, J Etulain (Arg) 68 73,
142 C Carranza (Arg) 70 72, S Walker (Eng) 72 70, M Kramer (Ger) 68 74, D Ulrich (Sui) 72 70, R Karlberg (Swe) 72 70, M Curtain (Aus) 73 69,
143 C Monasterio (Arg) 68 75, B Mason (Eng) 72 71, R Harris (Eng) 73 70, E Ramsay (Sco) 74 69, D Küpper (Ger) 72 71, N Lemke (Swe) 72 71, A Haindl (RSA) 71 72, G Woodman (Eng) 69 74, M Korhonen (Fin) 70 73, J Olesen (Den) 71 72, M Durcan (am) (Irl) 75 68,
144 M Millar (Aus) 73 71, S Surry (Eng) 75 69, J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 73 71, S Thornton (Irl) 74 70, J Morrison (Eng) 72 72, J Parry (Eng) 71 73, M Quiros (Esp) 75 69, C Russo (Fra) 73 71,
145 J Quesne (Fra) 71 74, T Rice (Irl) 72 73, J Moul (Eng) 77 68, R Treis (Ger) 72 73, M Rodriguez (Arg) 70 75, G Clark (Eng) 71 74, R Kilpatrick (Nir) 76 69, N Turner (Irl) 72 73, A Hansen (Den) 73 72, C McNamara (Irl) 71 74, L De Jager (RSA) 74 71, D Wardrop (Eng) 74 71, L Kennedy (Eng) 72 73, F Svanberg (Sui) 73 72,
146 P Del Grosso (Arg) 73 73, R Santos (Por) 76 70, J Abbate (Arg) 72 74, S Bebb (Wal) 76 70, P Bocian (Swe) 74 72, R Giles (Eng) 73 73, N Fox (Irl) 75 71, M Zions (Aus) 74 72, F Fritsch (Ger) 72 74,

CUT LINE

147 M Ruiz (Par) 71 76, D Higgins (Irl) 73 74, C Gane (Eng) 74 73, J Heath (Eng) 70 77, A Garcia-Heredia (Esp) 71 76, J Little (Eng) 73 74, S Arnold (Aus) 73 74, D Hewan (RSA) 73 74, C Devlin (Nir) 72 75, S Robinson (Eng) 76 71, J Kehoe (Irl) 76 71, S Manley (Wal) 76 71, J Billot (Fra) 72 75, A McArthur (Sco) 72 75, A Butterfield (Eng) 73 74, R Steele (Eng) 70 77,
148 C Phadungsil (Tha) 75 73, D Denison (Eng) 74 74, J Mommo (Fin) 72 76, P O'Hanlon (Irl) 76 72, P Relecom (Bel) 73 75, T Whitehouse (Eng) 72 76, A Bernadet (Fra) 74 74, J McCreadie (Sco) 77 71, P Streeter (Eng) 73 75,
149 J Levermore (Eng) 76 73, R McEvoy (Eng) 78 71, T Ferreira (RSA) 72 77, L Westerberg (Swe) 76 73, S Grant (Irl) 75 74, J Boerdonk (Ned) 74 75, G Murray (Sco) 74 75, B Evans (Eng) 77 72, J McLeary (Sco) 71 78, A Grenier (Fra) 76 73, M Ramsdale (Eng) 76 73,
150 G Shaw (Nir) 74 76, G Houston (Wal) 75 75, J Ruth (Eng) 73 77, C Aguilar (Esp) 72 78, L Brovold (Nor) 76 74, D Nouailhac (Fra) 74 76, K Jorgensen (Den) 71 79, S Henry (Sco) 72 78, M McDermott (Irl) 74 76, J Kelly (Irl) 74 76, F Andersson Hed (Swe) 76 74, M Campbell (Irl) 75 75, P O'Keeffe (Irl) 79 71, A Murray (Irl) 74 76, A Willey (Eng) 77 73,
151 A Tampion (Aus) 78 73, J Sköld (Swe) 78 73, T Mullally (Irl) 77 74, K Sullivan (Wal) 72 79, L Saltman (Sco) 73 78, S Jeppesen (Swe) 75 76, D Griffiths (Eng) 70 81, M Hooper (Eng) 75 76,
152 M Laskey (Wal) 77 75, S Juul (Den) 72 80, L James (Eng) 73 79, D Marmion (Eng) 75 77, V Riu (Fra) 79 73, A Bruschi (Ita) 79 73, K Webber (Aus) 73 79, T Cruz (Por) 71 81, C Selfridge (am) (Irl) 75 77,
153 K Staunton (Eng) 77 76, P Purhonen (Fin) 78 75, A Oldcorn (Sco) 76 77, A Thorpe (Eng) 80 73,
154 A Mörk (Fra) 75 79,
155 S Saavedra (Arg) 75 80, M Mackenzie (Eng) 75 80, J Wahlqvist (Swe) 79 76,
156 F Praegant (Aut) 79 77, L Bond (Wal) 79 77, J Grillon (Fra) 76 80,
157 M Pilkington (Wal) 80 77, D Froreich (Ger) 78 79, P Reavey (am) (Irl) 77 80,
159 D Reilly (am) (Irl) 77 82,
160 O Suhr (Den) 81 79,
** M Cort (Eng) 73 DISQ, M Murphy (Irl) 73 DISQ, M Mills (Eng) 76 RETD, R Gonzalez (Arg) 75 DISQ, O Floren (Swe) 83 W/D