Rhys Pugh in action in last year’s Abu Dhabi Junior Championship.Welsh teenager Rhys Pugh will take a one-stroke lead over Scotland’s Gordon Stevenson into today’s final 36 holes of the Irish Amateur Open Championship at Royal Dublin.

The 17-year old Pontypridd schoolboy, considered a certainty to represent Great Britain and Ireland in September’s Walker Cup at Royal Aberdeen, followed a 72 in Friday’s gales with a two under par 70 in benign conditions yesterday (CSS 75) when he birdied the 18th from 12 feet to lead on two under par 142.

Stevenson posted a 69 late in the day to take sole possession of second place on one-under 143. However, the Irish are well placed to strike with 18-year old Leaving Certificate student Paul Dunne of Greystones (71) and 38-year old Eddie McCormack (70) of Galway just two shots off the lead in a share of third place on level par

Beaten by Rory McIlroy in the Irish Close final in 2005 and runner up to Rory Leonard in last year’s West of Ireland, McCormack does not dare to dream of a maiden championship victory.

“I’m too long in the tooth for that carry on,” the Cavan native said with a grin. “All I’m thinking about is that first tee shot tomorrow morning.”

Defending champion Alan Dunbar of Rathmore bogeyed the last for a level par 72 and Mourne’s Reeve Whitson hit an excellent 69 to trail the leader by just three shots on one-over with West of Ireland champion Paul Cutler (71) and Finland’s Miro Veijalainen (70) a stroke further back.

The round of the day (and best of the week by two shots) came from Belgium’s Rutger Dhondt, who came back brilliantly from an opening 81 to card a course record equalling, six under par 66 set the early pace on three over par.

Playing in his first championship on a links course, the 24-year old dentistry student eagled the second with a rescue to seven feet and followed his only bogey of the day at the par-five sixth (he duffed his third) with birdies at the seventh, 12th, 13th, 14th and 16th.

Apart from a 30 footer at the 13th, Dhondt made his eagle and five birdies from inside 10 feet. He struggled to an 81 in the first round, mainly because he could not control his natural cut in a left to right wind on the back nine. But he took advantage of the lack of any serious wind on Saturday.

“Conditions were easier and the back nine played a lot easier than yesterday,” the Belgian said. “Because I tend to hit a cut off the tee, and with the wind off the left, it was a struggle yesterday. Today with a little less wind, you could get around a little more easily.”

Breezy but perfectly playable early on, and with four tees on the back nine moved forward in anticipation of bad weather, 16 players broke par compared to just one on the opening day.

First round leader Robin Kind of the Netherlands didn’t fare so well this time, carding a 76 to slip five shots off the pace.

But Dhondt’s 66 was one of five rounds in the 60s with Andrew Hogan’s fine 68 a 14-shot improvement on a jaded, opening 82 by the Newlands player.

Of the seven Walker Cup squad members in action, just four made the eight over par cut of 152 with Tom Lewis (75-79/154), Oliver Farr (83-73/156), Kevin Phelan (83-77/160) all faiing to make the top 39 qualifiers.

Ballymena’s Dermot McElroy, called up to join the Walker Cup squad session at Royal Aberdeen next week, shot a fine 70 to go into the final round tied with fellow young guns Rory McNamara (69) and Stephen Barry (71) on five over par 149.

As for the shot of the day, it’s hard to ignore the albatross two carded by Kinsale’s Kieran McCarthy at the par-five second. While he bogeyed the next two holes, his 70 helped him made the cut on the mark as the best of the 152’s.

After 36 Holes

142 R Pugh (Wales) 72 70

143 G Stevenson (Scotland) 74 69

144 E McCormack (Galway) 74 70, P Dunne (Greystones) 73 71

145 R Whitson (Mourne) 76 69, A Dunbar (Rathmore) 73 72

146 M Veijalainen (Finland) 76 70, P Cutler (Portstewart) 75 71

147 R Dhondt (Belgium) 81 66, D Huizing (Netherlands) 77 70, K Nicol (Scotland) 75 72, R Kind (Netherlands) 71 76

149 R McNamara (Headfort) 80 69, D McElroy (Ballymena) 79 70, S Barry (Laytown & Bettystown) 78 71, T Salminen (Finland) 78 71, N Grant (Knock) 77 72, R Van West (Netherlands) 76 73, J Evans (England) 75 74, J Greene (Carlow) 73 76

150 A Hogan (Newlands) 82 68, W Harmston (England) 79 71, P Murray (Limerick) 78 72, F McKenna (Scotland) 77 73, C O’Malley (Westport) 77 73, J Findlay (Scotland) 76 74, M Gaspar (Portugal) 75 75

151 H Beins (Germany) 81 70, L Bjerregaard (Denmark) 81 70, A Eckhardt (Finland) 79 72, C Selfridge (Moyola Park) 78 73, E Arthurs (Forrest Little) 76 75, J Brittain (England) 75 76, C Fairweather (Knock) 73 78

152 K McCarthy (Kinsale) 82 70, P Shields (Scotland) 79 73, C Doran (Banbridge) 79 73, D Murphy (Portarlington) 78 74, B Casey (Headfort) 77 75

 

Non-Qualifiers

152 R O’Donovan (Lucan) 76 76, G McDermott (Co. Sligo) 76 76, F Schulte (Germany) 76 76, D Murray (Skerries) 75 77, R Leonard (Banbridge) 74 78, I Brennan (Greenore) 72 80

153 S Moloney (Castletroy) 80 73, S Bryan (Delgany) 79 74, E Smith (Ardee) 79 74, C Molloy (Ardee) 79 74, J Hume (Rathsallagh) 78 75, W Hanna (Kilkeel) 78 75, S Carter (Stackstown) 78 75, M Kippen (England) 78 75, J Fox (Portmarnock) 77 76

154 P Latimer (Scotland) 81 73, G Dunne (Seapoint) 81 73, J Lyons (Birr) 80 74, R Bridges (Stackstown) 80 74, G Lawlor (Newbridge) 80 74, S Grehan (Tullamore) 79 75, T Gurek (Germany) 78 76, G Moynihan (The Island) 78 76, B Walton (The Island) 77 77, N Hellberg (Finland) 76 78, T Lewis (England) 75 79

155 O Farr (Wales) 83 72, G McGrane (The Royal Dublin) 80 75, R Cannon (Laytown & Bettystown) 78 77, F Osther (Netherlands) 77 78, M Shanahan (West Waterford) 76 79, S Bolton (England) 76 79, T Silva (Portugal) 75 80, D Downie (Sutton) 75 80, J Carlota (Portugal) 74 81

156 S McGlynn (South County) 83 73, A Kearney (Castlerock) 81 75, T Ibbertson (England) 80 76, G Bohill (Co. Louth) 80 76, M Durcan (Co. Sligo) 79 77, J Monaghan (The Royal Dublin) 79 77, S Borrowman (Scotland) 77 79

157 M Downes (England) 83 74, K Murray (Charlesland) 81 76, M Buggy (Castlecomer) 80 77, D Coyle (Co. Louth) 80 77

158 J Hopkins (Skerries) 84 74, S Ryan (The Royal Dublin) 82 76, K Crowley (Lee Valley) 78 80, D Loftus (Swinford) 78 80

159 L Nemecz (Austria) 88 71, J Richardson (Royal Portrush) 85 74, R Fieldhouse (Wales) 84 75, S O’Connor (Skerries) 82 77

160 P Croonquist (USA) 83 77, K Phelan (Waterford Castle) 83 77, P McLean (Scotland) 82 78, A Kiernan (Forrest Little) 82 78, Q Carew (Edenderry) 80 80, S McCarthy (Black Bush) 78 82

161 M O’Connor (England) 83 78, L Lennox (Moyola Park) 83 78, C Martin (Kilkenny) 82 79, S Crenan (England) 82 79, S Crichton (Scotland) 82 79, S Brady (Co. Sligo) 80 81, J Dillon (Headfort) 79 82

162 C Daly (Castletroy) 84 78

163 A Kelly (Charleville) 85 78, S Quy (Belgium) 81 82

164 R Megens (Belgium) 86 78, T Rodrigues (Portugal) 79 85

166 C Korbler (Austria) 90 76

167 J Hord (USA) 84 83

169 D Callister (England) 92 77

170 C Glynn (Carton House) 88 82

171 T Collins (South Africa) 89 82

NR C Boggan (Co. Meath) 79 NR

WD B Anderson (Co. Sligo) 83 WD, S Larkin (Scotland) 91 WD

 

Sunday tee times

(7:30/12:30) B Casey (Headfort), D Murphy (Portarlington), C Doran(Banbridge)

(7:39/12:39) P Shields (Scot), K McCarthy (Kinsale), C Fairweather (Knock)

(7:48/12:48) J Brittain (Eng), E Arthurs (Forrest Little), C Selfridge (Moyola Park)

(7:57/12:57) A Eckhardt (Fin), L Bjerregaard (Den), H Beins (Ger)

(8:06/13:06) M Gaspar (Por), J Findlay (Scot), C O’Malley (Westport)

(8:15/13:15) F McKenna (Scot), P Murray (Limerick), W Harmston (Eng)

(8:24/13:24) A Hogan (Newlands), J Greene (Carlow), J Evans (Eng)

(8:33/13:33) R Van West (N’lands), N Grant (Knock), T Salminen (Fin)

(8:42/13:42) S Barry (L’town/Btown), D McElroy (Ballymena), R McNamara (Headfort)

(8:51/13:51) R Kind (Ned), K Nicol (Scot), D Huizing (Ned)

(9:00/14:00) R Dhondt (Bel), P Cutler (Portstewart), M Veijalainen (Fin)

(9:09/14:09) A Dunbar (Rathmore), R Whitson (Mourne), P Dunne (Greystones)

(9:18/14:18) E McCormack (Galway), G Stevenson (Scot), R Pugh (Wal).