Niall Kearney vowed to “have a good go” over the weekend after making ten birdies in a seven-under-par 64 to move to within four shots of the lead in the Canary Islands Championship.

The Dubliner (33) made no fewer than five birdie twos — a personal best — to be tied for 11th on 10-under par behind Spain’s Adri Arnaus who shot a 64 to lead by a shot on 14-under from South Africa’s Garrick Higgo, who posted a 63.

Scores

“It was a nice day,” said Kearney, who birdied the second, third, fifth, sixth and seventh before following dropped shots at the eighth, ninth and 11th with five birdies in his last seven holes. 

“I made a pretty fast start and I was hitting it in tight and was very easy,” Kearney said. “Then I stumbled around the turn. Eight is playing tough all the time to be honest because it’s a par-five converted to a par-four.

“Then I overshot the green on nine and made a silly bogey on 11, so I was struggling for momentum at that stage. But I had a nice run then all the way to the house really, hit lots of good shots and rolled in some nice 10 footers.

“The run of birdies on 12, 13 and 14 was very satisfying because it got me back in the game after the rocky patch.”

As for thoughts of winning, he said: “My process is good and I’m really enjoying the competition again. So I’ll have a good go over the weekend. I’ll be trying my best.”

Paul Dunne carded a rollercoaster 71 to make the four-under cut with two shots to spare but Cormac Sharvin (70, 3-under), Jonathan Caldwell (71, 1-under) and Tom McKibbin (75, two-over) missed out.

On the Challenge Tour, Michael Hoey’s one-under 71 left him tied for fourth on 10-under, just a shot behind leaders Henric Sturehed, Wilco Nienaber and Jaco Ahlers in the Dimension Data Pro-Am at Fancourt where Gavin Moynihan (3-over) and Richard O’Donovan (11-over) missed the three-under cut. Scores