Lucan's Richard O'Donovan battled his way into the final round of the Red Sea Ain Sokhna Classic on the German Pro Golf Tour in Egypt but Reeve Whitson missed the cut.

O'Donovan had opened with a four over 76 and Whitson a 77 at Sokhna Golf Club, south of Suez. But as Whitson shot a 73 to miss the cut by three strokes, former East of Ireland champion O'Donovan fired six birdies in a 68 to move up to tied 21st.

The 24-year old Lucan man — a winner on the German satellite tour last September — birdied the fifth, sixth, eighth and ninth to turn in 31 and then got to six under for the day with birdies at the 13th and 17th only to finish with a double bogey six.

At level par, he's seven strokes behind Stephan Wolters and Anton Kirstein of Germany, who lead by a stroke on seven under par.

Scores