Small takes giant step after back-to-back eagles

William Small (Tandragee) with Olivia Mehaffey on the bag, competing in the  2015 Fred Daly All Ireland Trophy final. .Picture by Pat Cashman

Tandragee’s William Small made back-to-back eagles to lead the three Irish survivors into the last two rounds of Welsh Open Stroke Play at The Vale Resort.

The 20-year old dairy farmer went out in three-over par 39 with two birdies cancelled out by a bogey six at the fourth and a quadruple-bogey seven at the eighth.

Another bogey at the 13th left him four over for the day, but he made successive eagle threes at the 15th and 16th to card a level par 73 for a share of 25th on three over,

Small is 14 strokes behind runaway lead Gian-Marco Petrozzi, who leads by seven strokes on 11 under par after rounds of 66 and 69

Hollywood's Rory Williamson (75 75 150) and Warrenpoint's Jamie Fletcher (81 71 152) were the only other members of the eight-strong Irish entry to make the cut, which fell at six-over-par 152.

Welsh Open Stroke Play, The Vale Resort (Par 73)

Detailed scores

1 PETROZZI, Gian-Marco Trentham Golf Club -11 66 69 135
T2 KOUWENAAR, Koen Best Golf & Country Club -4 72 70 142
T2 WHITEOAK, W Shipley Golf Club -4 71 71 142
T2 HARRY, Timothy The Vale Resort -4 70 72 142
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T25 SMALL, William Tandragee +3 76 73 149
T32 WILLIAMSON, Rory Holywood +4 75 75 150
T43 FLETCHER, Jamie Warrenpoint +6 81 71 152
MC NOLAN, Marc Delgany +9 77 78 155
MC DUTTON, Ross Tandragee +11 77 80 157
MC MORLEY, Devin Oughterard +14 78 82 160
MC FITZSIMONS, Matthew Ardglass Golf Club +16 83 79 162
MC FOLEY, Hugh The Royal Dublin +19 79 86 165