Murray and Selfridge lead Irish challenge

Pat MurrayChris Selfridge headed the Irish challenge in South Africa as Pat Murray led the scoring for the men in green on a disappointing opening day in Portugal.

Moyola Park man Selfridge, the Irish Close and East of Ireland champion, fired a three under 69 in the second round of the South African Strokeplay Championship at Oubaai Golf Club in George trail home player Werner Ferreira by six shots. Scores

Selfridge shares 13th place on three under par while Knock’s Nicky Grant (72) is tied for 18th on two under.

Dermot McElroy and Rory McNamara both bounced back on day two with three under 69’s moving them up to tied 23rd with Richard O’Donovan (74) and Harry Diamond (72) on one under.

Reeve Whitson and Gary Hurley both shot 73’s for the second successive day to lie joint 43rd on two over and ensure that all seven Irishmen made the cut, which fell at five over par.

There were few Irish fireworks in the opening round of the Portuguese Amateur Open at Montado near Lisbon. Scores

South of Ireland champion Murray managed a level par 72 on a day when just 16 players in the 120 strong field broke par.

The Tipperary native was three over after four holes and still three over with eight to play before he hit four birdies in five holes to get into the red only to finish with a bogey at his final hole to end the day tied for 17th.

Switzerland’s Edouard Amacher had nine birdies in an outstanding, eight under 64 to lead by three shots from Adrien Saddier of France and England’s Michael Saunders.

But it was a disappointing opening day for the rest of the Irish as Matthew Wylie shot 74, Gavin Moynihan a 75 and Matt McAlpin a 77.

Alex Gleeson was just one over through nine holes but triple bogeyed his 10th, the first, got back to three over playing the last only to rack up a quadruple bogey eight for a 79.

Eddie McCormack also had a day to forget as he had a quadruple bogey eight at the 16th in an 80.