Brand new shoes worked wonders for recently-crowned South of Ireland Amateur champion TJ Ford as he followed an opening 68 with a six-under 66 to take a three-stroke lead into the final two rounds of the Sherry Fitzgerald Davitt & Davitt and Pinergy sponsored Mullingar Scratch Trophy.

Bidding to become the first man to do the South-Mullingar double since Paul McGinley in 1991, the Co Sligo man (24) leads on 10-under par from Grange's Jake Whelan (68-69) and Enniscorthy's Paul Conroy (72-65), a South of Ireland semi-finalist, heading into Monday’s final 36 holes.

Scores

Ford suffered badly blistered feet en route to victory at Lahinch but he bought a new pair of shoes in James Quinlivan’s professional’s shop in Mullingar and they worked wonders as he made 11 birdies and just one bogey over the opening 36 holes.

“They are a bit comfier than what I had,” said Ford, whose bogey-free 68 in the morning left him two shots behind Royal Dublin’s Richard Knightly, the man he beat on the 20th in the quarter-finals at Lahinch. “They are actually Skechers so I will get plenty of abuse off the lads but if I keep playing like that, I don’t really care.”

Putting brilliantly, Ford raced to the turn in five-under 30 in the afternoon as he followed birdies at the fourth, fifth and sixth with two more at the eighth and ninth.

He was keen to go bogey-free through 36 holes but after making birdie at the par-five 14th to get to 10-under, he caught a tree at the 16th and kicked into the drain to run up a bogey six before following a lip-out for birdie at the 17th with a finishing birdie four.

“I’m still buzzing after the South,” when asked if his good form was down to his win at Lahinch or his love of Mullingar. “I do really like Mullingar but I hadn’t hit a ball until yesterday. I hit a few on the practice ground but didn’t play a practice round.

“I got the pace of the greens really quickly, hit a lot of really good iron shots and gave myself a lot of chances. I am struggling a little bit with the driver but I was able to just manage it pretty well today.

“I didn’t look at a leaderboard all day but I knew Richard [Knightly] had shot six-under in the morning and I presumed everyone would kick on because conditions were really nice out there. But from the eighth hole onwards, my goal was to try not to make another bogey for the rest of the day.

“Unfortunately I hit what I thought was a decent tee shot on the 16th but it just caught a tree and went into the drain. As a golfer you look at what might have been and I had a lot of looks for birdie but I am playing very well and happy with that so far.”

Conroy shot a best of the day 65 in the afternoon to move up to tied second with Whelan, who birdied the 17th and 18th for his 69 in the afternoon.

Ford lies second in the Order of Merit behind Laytown and Bettystown’s Alex Maguire. 

But he insisted was unaware the top-three after September’s West of Ireland Championship earn automatic selection for the Home Internationals alongside the top four on WAGR with the remaining four players decided by the Golf Ireland selectors.

“I haven’t looked at any of that,” Ford said. “I just looked to see how much golf I can play from here with work. I knew Alex was going well and I can earn a good position with a good result this week but I hadn’t looked at how many spots there were for Homes.

“I am actually trying to block out the Homes as much as I can to be honest. I don’t want to think about it. It wasn’t on the radar at the start of the year and I am not expecting to get picked so I want to just keep playing my best and see what happens.

“My goal was to try and make the Interprovincial team this year, to be honest. There are a lot of really good lads coming through who have been over in the States, so that was my only team thought.”  

Athenry’s David Kitt (70-68) and Elm Park’s John Cleary (70-68) share fourth on six-under with Balbriggan’s Robbie Cannon, a loyal supporter of Mullingar, tied sixth with The Island’s Jack Blake and Slieve Russell’s Shane McDermott after a second round 67

Knightly followed his 66 with a 74 to share ninth with Kinsale’s Cathal Butler on four-under as the cut for the top 51 fell at four-over 148.

Forrest Little’s Jack McDonnell and Esker Hills’ Christopher Rabbette the only players in the 10-man group on that mark to get through as Portumna’s Sam Murphy and Irish Close champion Hugh Foley missed out on five-over.

Mullingar Scratch Trophy, sponsored by Sherry Fitzgerald Davitt & Davitt and Pinergy, Mullingar GC (Par 72)

Detailed scores

134 T Ford (Co. Sligo) 68 66

137 P Conroy (Enniscorthy) 72 65, J Whelan (Grange) 68 69

138 D Kitt (Athenry) 70 68, J Cleary (Elm Park) 70 68

139 R Cannon (Balbriggan) 72 67, S McDermott (Slieve Russell) 69 70, J Blake (The Island) 67 72

140 C Butler (Kinsale) 70 70, R Knightly (Royal Dublin) 66 74

141 C Byrne (Strabane) 73 68, C Hickey (Dooks) 70 71

142 C Denvir (Elm Park) 74 68, R Latimer (Knock) 73 69, T Dowdall (Woodbrook) 73 69, M McClean (Malone) 71 71, L Nolan (Galway) 71 71

143 A Maguire (Laytown & Bettystown GC) 74 69, R Milne (Faithlegg) 72 71

144 M Kennedy (Royal Dublin) 72 72, K McCarron (North West) 72 72

145 A Collins (Laytown & Bettystown GC) 75 70, E Murphy (Dundalk) 75 70, R McNelis (Fintona) 74 71, T Plunkett (Crover House) 74 71, S Keeling (Roganstown) 73 72, P Buckley (Cork) 73 72, J Rowe (Tandragee) 73 72, J Hood (Galgorm Castle) 72 73, A Marshall (Lisburn) 72 73, G Lappin (Belvoir Park) 70 75, R Abernethy (Dun Laoghaire) 70 75

146 D O'Riordan (Fermoy) 80 66, M Boucher (Carton House) 75 71, A Kiernan (Forrest Little) 75 71, S WALKER (Roscommon) 74 72, R Walsh Jnr (Douglas) 74 72, H Gillivan (Westport) 72 74, C Dunphy (Killeen Castle) 71 75, F O'Sullivan (Tralee) 71 75, P O' Keeffe (Douglas) 68 78

147 L O'Connor (Edmondstown) 77 70, S Egan Jr. (Tullamore) 77 70, I Lynch (Rosslare) 76 71, E Farrell (Ardee) 74 73, P Coughlan (Castleknock) 73 74, C Geraghty (Laytown & Bettystown GC) 72 75, G Lenehan (Portmarnock) 71 76, J Doherty (Carton House) 70 77

148 J McDonnell (Forrest Little) 78 70, C Rabbette (Esker Hills) 77 71

Missed cut

148 J Byrne (Baltinglass) 76 72, S Cunningham (Esker Hills) 75 73, A Ryan (Thurles) 75 73, S Desmond (Monkstown) 74 74, D McCormack (Corrstown) 74 74, S Flanagan (Portmarnock) 74 74, S O'Connell (Athenry) 72 76, M Cain (Cork) 69 79, M Giles (Greenore) 69 79

149 E Sullivan (Carton House) 78 71, D O'Sullivan (Tralee) 77 72, S Murphy (Portumna) 76 73, R Williamson (Holywood) 76 73, L O'Neill (Connemara) 74 75, A Kelly (The Heritage) 74 75, D Muldowney (Carton House) 74 75, A Hickey (Galway Bay) 73 76, E Marsden (Tullamore) 73 76, A Grant (Dundalk) 72 77, H Foley (Royal Dublin) 71 78

150 D Reddan Jnr (Nenagh) 79 71, S O'Brien (Nenagh) 76 74, G Dunne (Co. Louth) 75 75

151 T Finnegan (Co. Sligo) 77 74, D Leufer (Athenry) 75 76, D Flynn (Carton House) 75 76

152 R O'Doherty (Enniscrone) 77 75, D Marshall (Mount Wolseley) 71 81

153 D Morgan (Carton House) 78 75, F Kennedy (The Island) 74 79

154 C Kelly (Athlone) 76 78

155 J Lyons (Galway) 77 78, D Shiel (Powerscourt) 76 79

156 L Abom (Edmondstown) 78 78

157 A Smith (Mullingar) 77 80, S O Neill (Co. Cavan) 76 81

161 S McDermott (Esker Hills) 78 83

168 E Shipp (Headfort) 80 88