Tour round up: McGeady and Kearney challenge; Spieth 64; Power 67; Meadow cut
Ricardo Gouveia.
Challenge Tour — Michael McGeady is just three shots off the lead with Niall Kearney a shot further back with two rounds to play in the D+D REAL Slovakia Challenge.
As Portugal’s Ricardo Gouveia shot 66 and stepped up his bid to become the first back-to-back winner on the European Challenge Tour since Kristoffer Broberg in 2012, McGeady made seven birdies in a 68 to share eighth spot on six under at Penalti Golf Resort.
Kearney had five birdies in a one under 71 and lies four behind in joint 13th on four under.
Rosapenna’s Ruaidhri McGee missed the level par cut by two after 74 with Gareth Shaw four over after a 72 and Reeve Whitson nine over after a 76.
Gouveia won the AEGEAN Airlines Challenge Tour hosted by Hartl Resorts last week in Germany and set the clubhouse target of nine under with a seven-birdie round.
He was joined by Swede Steven Jeppesen, whose seven under round of 65 was the joint best of the day, while first round leader Jack Doherty and Spaniards Borja Virto Astudillo and Luis Claverie were a shot further back on eight under par.
Scores after round 2:
135 S Jeppesen (Swe) 70 65, R Gouveia (Por) 69 66,
136 L Claverie (Esp) 71 65, J Doherty (Sco) 65 71, B Virto Astudillo (Esp) 69 67,
137 P Howard (Eng) 69 68, J Winther (Den) 66 71,
138 J McLeary (Sco) 68 70, A Björk (Swe) 70 68, Michael McGeady (Irl) 70 68, J Sjöholm (Swe) 68 70, T Sluiter (Ned) 69 69,
139 Niall Kearney (Irl) 68 71, J Carlota (Por) 72 67, D Vancsik (Arg) 73 66, W Besseling (Ned) 67 72,
CUT: 146, R McGee (Irl) 72 74; 148 G Shaw (Nir) 76 72; 153 R Whitson (Nir) 77 76.
PGA Tour - Jordan Spieth was in danger of missing the cut after a level par opening round but the 2013 winner shot into contention instead with a seven under 64 in round two of the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run in Illinois.
The Masters and US Open champion is tied for 16th, five strokes behind Gavin Moynihan’s former Universty of Alabama team mate Justin Thomas (67), who leads by one stroke on 12 under from Johnson Wagner and Tom Gillis.
Spieth heads to St Andrews on Sunday bidding for a palc ein the history books in The Open.
At the birthplace of golf, the 21-year-old winner of the year’s first two major championships will be bidding to become just the second player to win the first three legs of the modern Grand Slam. Only fellow Texan Ben Hogan, in 1953, has managed that.
“Just another round of golf,” he said. “This was the third round I have played since the U.S. Open. I’m getting on-course reps and it is making a difference.”
Web.com Tour — Seamus Power is tied for 22nd on nine under after following a 67 with a five under 66 in the second round of the Albertsons Boise Open presented by Kraft Nabisco at Hillcrest Country Club in Idaho.
The West Waterford man is nine strokes behind American Martin Piller, who followed a 61 with a 63 to lead by four strokes from Argentina’s Jorge Fernandez Valdes and compatriot Peter Malnatii on 18 under.
US Women’s Open — Stephanie Meadow recovered from her opening 79 with a four overr 74 but missed the cut by nine shots at Lancaster Country Club in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
The Jordanstown native had two birdies, three bogeys and a triple bogey eight at the seventh in her round.
South Korea’s Amy Yang added a 66 to her 67 to lead by three shots on seven uner par from Stacy Lewis -(67) and Japan’s Shiho Oyama (66).
