Whitehead’s John Ross Galbraith will take a three-shot lead into the final round of the HotelPlanner.com PGA EuroPro Tour’s PREM Group Irish Masters at Tulfarris Hotel & Golf Resort.

Leaderboard

He followed a 68 with a blemish-free, six-under 66 to give himself a great chance to win his maiden EuroPro Tour title and move closer to on of five Challenge Tour cards on offer for the leading money winners at the end of the season.

“It couldn’t have gone much better for me out there today,” he told the official Europro Tour website. ”I had a solid start hitting a few pars in a row, waiting for the birdie opportunities to come which I took on the par fives.

“I started the season off really strongly, grabbing two top ten finishes in the first two events and have since stumbled through the season; looking back I think I was trying too hard to make things happen.

”But the last couple of weeks I’ve played some nice golf and I’m really looking forward to the final round tomorrow and the remainder of the season.

“I’m going for a win in these last few events to set me up for a great week at the Tour Championship. I belong at the top of the leaderboard and I feel comfortable there so it is great to be back where I want this week.”

Ireland’s Niall Kearney (The Royal Dublin Golf Club) equalled the course record (65) on day two to sit in joint second alongside Scotland’s Paul McKecknie (Braid Hills Golf Centre) and Marco Penge (Golf at Goodwood) on seven-under par.

And sitting just a shot back on an overall score of six-under par is two-time EuroPro Tour Champion Mark Young, who could move to within one of the coveted £250,000 four-win bonus on offer if he were to claim the title.

Elsewhere, tournament host and former European Tour player Simon Thornton (Tulfarris Hotel & Golf Resort) followed up an even par opening round with a three-under second.

Brian McElhinney (70) is tied for 15th on four under with Luke Donnelly (69), Chris Selfridge (69) and Stuart Grehan (73) tied for 25th with Thornton on three-under.