Jim Murphy, CEO PREM Group, with winner Marco Penge and John O'Grady (GM Tulfarris) at Tulfarris.

West Waterford's Seamus Power faces an uphill battle in his last gasp bid to win back his full playing rights on the PGA Tour via the top 25 in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals points list.

He was three-under-par with three holes to go at Victoria National in Indiana, but bogeyed all three for a level par 72 in the final-counting Korn Ferry Tour Championship leaving him nine shots behind leader Chris Baker in joint 64th.

Poor finish for Power in card bid

Power, who had two three-putts and 33 putts in all yesterday, has conditional PGA Tour status but needs to finish solo sixth this week to make the top 25 points winners who will be fully exempt next season.

He’s now five stokes outside his target score and needs a good round today to keep his hopes alive.

Dawson and McBride get hot

At the Challenge Tour's KPMG Trophy in Belgium, The Island's Paul McBride shot a six-under 65 and Portmarnock Links' Robin Dawson a 68 to lie just four shots off the lead at halfway.

They are tied for 11th on nine-under behind England's Jack Senior at Millennium Golf, where Gary Hurley and Stephen Grant missed the five-under cut on six and seven-over respectively.

Stephanie motoring, Leona cut

On the Symetra Tour, Leona Maguire shot a one-over 71 but missed the cut by two shots on five-over in the Sioux Falls Greatlife Challenge in North Dakota.

But it was another good day for Stephanie Meadow on the LPGA Tour as she made seven birdies in a five-under 67 to go into the third round of the Cambia Portland Classic on eight-under par.

She’s tied for 23rd, nine strokes behind Australia’s Hannah Green and now in with a great chance of moving into the top 100 in the standings who keep their cards.

In seniors golf, former Ryder Cup winner Philip Walton birdied his last three holes to open with a two-under 70 in the Sinclair Invitational at Hanbury Manor Marriott Hotel in Hertfordshire.

The Malahide man was tied for 12th, four shots behind Gary Evans with Des Smyth 39th after a two-over 74.

Darren Clarke, meanwhile, shot a one-over 71 to lie 10 strokes behind Michael Bradley in the PGA Tour Champions’ Shaw Charity Classic at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club in Calgary.

McElroy goes well at Tulfarris

Ballymena's Dermot McElroy tied for 10th on four-under in the PGA Europro Tour's Prem Group Irish Masters at Tulfarris.

His closing 73 left him eight shots behind England's Marco Penge on four-under with the club's professional Simon Thornton and five-time European Tour winner Michael Hoey a shot further back.

McElroy is 55th in the Race to Desert Springs standings where Clandeboye’s Jonny Caldwell is 10th, less than £5,000 outside the top five who will earn automatic promotion to the Challenge Tour.

At the Jacques Leglise Trophy at Aldeburgh, the Continent of Europe leads Great Britain and Ireland 6.5-5.5.

The teams were tied after the morning foursomes matches on two points each, but the Continent of Europe claimed the half-way lead winning four and a half points in the afternoon singles matches. They will now take a one point advantage going into the final day tomorrow.

The team from the Continent of Europe needs another 6 ½ points to win back the trophy.

All square in the foursomes

In the morning foursomes, the pairing of McKinney and Aaron Marshall defeated Alvaro Mueller-Baumgart 5&4 to win GB&I’s first point of the day. The pair who were always in control parred their way to victory, duly closing out the match on the 14th hole.

Meanwhile the French duo of Tom Vaillant and Charles Larcelet earned the Continent of Europe their first point. They made short work of Barclay Brown and Joe Pagdin, disposing of the English pair 4&3.

A birdie at the 18th hole ensured Ben Schmidt and Archie Davies won their match over Adam Wallin and Loic Ettlin, earning GB&I its second point.

To close out the foursomes the Continent of Europe equalised, gaining a point in the match won by Daniel da Costa Rodrigues and Bård Bjørnevik Skogen who defeated Tom McKibbin and Luke O’Neill 2&1.

Irish Boys champion Aaron Marshall (Lisburn). Picture by Pat Cashman

Fight back

Joe Pagdin and Connor McKinney both got off to poor starts in their singles matches but fought back to claim points for the GB&I team.

Pagdin was two-down after 11 holes in his match against David Puig of Spain but a birdie at the 12th saw the momentum shift. The Englishman squared the match at the 14th hole before claiming the lead for the first time with a birdie at the 15th. Puig conceded the 16th but won the next to give himself an opportunity to halve the match at the last. A par was all Pagdin needed to record a two-up victory and earn a point for his team.

McKinney’s come from behind victory over Charles Larcelet had the crowd suitably impressed as he battled from three-down after five holes to record a 3&2 win. Patience and pars were the secret to McKinney’s match as he made six consecutive pars whilst Larcelet faulted. A birdie at the 12th hole, his first of the match, saw McKinney win his seventh consecutive hole and take a three-up lead which he maintained through to the 16th where he officially recorded a point for GB&I.

Top ranked Schmidt records win

The highest ranked player in the field, England’s Ben Schmidt who is 14th on the World Amateur Golf Ranking, defeated Adam Wallin of Sweden in a tough match. The pair were all square after six holes but dropped shots from Wallin on the 7th and 8th holes gave Schmidt the advantage. Wallin rallied to square the match with birdies on the 13thand 15th. However, he stumbled, making a bogey-five on the 16th hole, while Schmidt made just his second birdie of the match on the 17th hole to close out the win.

Josh Hill from Ireland and Alvaro Mueller-Baumgart could not be separated after 18 holes and the pair halved the match providing the Continent of Europe their first score in the singles.

Cristoni takes control

With GB&I looking very much in control of the singles matches, Matteo Cristoni of Italy manged to turn the tide back in his team’s favour. It took 13 holes for Cristoni to gain an advantage over Archie Davies of Wales but a birdie-three saw him edge ahead. A par at the 18th for Cristoni, that Davies was unable to match, provided Cristoni with a two-up victory.

Now with the momentum back in the Continent of Europe’s favour Loic Ettlin and Tom Vaillant secured an additional two points thanks to their victories over Tom McKibbin and Luke O’Neill respectively. Both hard earned, Ettlin won by two holes while Vaillant won on the 18th.

da Costa Rodrigues disposes of the Captain

In the last match of the day Daniel da Costa Rodrigues of Portugal secured a big win defeating the GB&I’s playing captain Barclay Brown.

In control from the outset, Rodrigues never gave Brown an opportunity to mount a charge winning on the 16th hole, 3&2.

Jacques Leglise Trophy, at Aldeburgh GC, England

Day 1, Overall (Continent of Europe 6.5, Great Britain & Ireland 5.5)

Foursomes (Continent of Europe 2, GB&I 2): T Vaillant (Fra) & C Larcelet (Fra) bt B Brown (Eng) & J Pagdin (Eng) 4&3; A Mueller-Baumgart (Esp) & D Puig (Esp) lost to C McKinney (Sco) & A Marshall (Ire) 5&4; A Wallin (Swe) & L Ettlin (Sui) lost to B Schmidt (Eng) & A Davies (Wa) 1 h; D da Costa Rodrigues (Por) & B Skogen (Nor) bt T McKibbin (Irl) & L O'Neill (Irl) 2 H.

Singles (Continent of Europe 4.5, GB&I 3.5): Puig lost to Pagdin 2 H; Larcelet lost to McKinney 3&2; Mueller-Baumgart halved with J Hill (Ire), Wallin lost to Schmidt 2&1; M Cristoni (Ita) bt Davies 2H; Ettlin bt McKibbin 1H; Vaillant bt O'Neill 2H; da Costa Rodrigues bt Brown 3&2.

PGA Europro Tour

Prem Group Irish Masters, Tulfarris Hotel and Golf Resort (Par 72

Selected scores: 1, M Penge (Eng) 66 67 71 204 (£10,000); 2, A Plumb (Eng) 70 68 67 205 (£6,000); 3, A Chapman (Eng) 65 77 65 207; T4 T Gandy (IoM) 70 70 68 208, N Watson (Eng) 68 69 71 208. Irish: T10 D McElroy (Ballymena GC) 72 67 73 212 (£830); T15, S Thornton (Tulfarris) 71 70 72 213, M Hoey (Galgorm Golf Resort & Spa) 70 71 72 213 (£600 each); T18, N Kearney (Royal Dublin) 70 70 74 214, J Caldwell (Clandeyboye) 68 72 74 214 (£496 each); T29, B McElhinney (North West) 72 73 71 216 (£393); T35, P Williamson (Woodcote Park) 70 73 74 217 (£370); T38, N Turner (Balbriggan) 71 74 73 218 (£350).