A cold east wind gusting over 20 mph proved no impediment to Scotland’s Shaun Hedger as he carded a best-of-the-day five-under 67 to take a two-stroke lead into the final 36 holes of The D Hotel sponsored East of Ireland Amateur Open at County Louth.

The 25-year old from West Kilbride on the north Ayrshire coast is no stranger to playing golf in the wind and he felt right at home on a demanding day at Baltray, where just eight players are under par heading into the final day.

The east wind makes the par-threes play down breeze and turns many of the tougher holes into real brutes.

“It was tough and pretty breezy, but I’m from the west coast of Scotland, so it’s similar here to where I’m from at home, where it’s breezy all the time,” said plumbing and heating engineer Hedger, who recently won the Ayrshire Matchplay Championship.

“I’ve got family in Ardee—my brother married a girl from there— so I came over for the Irish Amateur Open at The Island and thoroughly enjoyed it, and when I looked at the calendar, I saw this was on, so I thought, why not.”

Starting on the 10th, Hedger was happy to negotiate the first three holes in level par and follow a bogey at the 13th with a birdie at the 14th before picking up another shot at the downwind 18th.

He then saw a 30 footer stop in the lip at the second and get blown into the hole for a birdie before reducing the 544-yard third to a drive, a wedge and a 10-foot putt before getting up and down from 30 yards short of the green for a closing birdie at the ninth.

He leads by two strokes on seven-under 137 from Royal Portrush’s Jack Madden, who followed his opening 67 with a 72, with Roscommon’s Allan Hill joining them in the final three-ball, a shot further back, making six birdies in an excellent 69 yesterday.

Forrest Little international Jack McDonnell produced the second-best score of the day, covering the back nine in four-under 31 with birdies at the 13th, 14th, 15th and 18th before mixing two birdies with two bogeys coming home for a fine 68.

Seeking his first major win, McDonnell (27) is tied for fourth, five shots behind Hedger on two-under alongside his playing partner James Fox from Portmarnock, who was inspired to shoot 69.

“I got a few nice lies in the rough,” said McDonnell, who has birdied six of the eight par fives. “But it’s very rare to shoot four-under on the back nine at Baltray. I holed a few putts going out and I was holding on after that.”

Fox was inspired by McDonnell’s display.

“I was just in Jack’s slipstream,” said Fox, who was three-over after four holes and saw from McDonnell’s hot play that a score was possible and proceeded to make six birdies and eight pars from there. “There’s a long way to go and five shots isn’t a lot over 36 holes.”

Fox admitted he learned a lot watching his elder brother Noel win three East of Ireland titles in a brilliant amateur carer.

“I did pick up a few things,” said the Dubliner, who has made four birdies and four pars on the eight par threes so far, including twos at the fifth, seventh and 17th yesterday.

“You have to play the par threes well. You are not winning the tournament if you are not under par on the par threes.”

Of the top five on the leaderboard, leader Hedger is level par for Baltray’s fantastic short holes (all of which were among the 10 most difficult holes over the first two rounds), Madden two-under, Hill one-under and McDonnell two-over compared to Fox’s impressive tally of four-under.

Fox’s Portmarnock clubmate Shane McGlynn is three-under for the short holes but tied 22nd on three-over.

With the cut for the top 42 and ties falling at six-over, just eight strokes cover the top 16 on the leaderboard with former Walker Cup player Caolan Rafferty from Dundalk, Dooks’ Conor Hickey and Belvoir Park’s Darcy Hogg tied sixth on one-under.

Three Co Louth men made the cut with Bryan Ronan well-placed on one-over after an excellent 70 featuring four birdies, four bogeys and an eagle three at the third.

East of Ireland Championship, sponsored by The D Hotel, County Louth Golf Club (Par 72) 

Detailed scores

Final day tee-times (Rd. 3/Rd. 4)

10th/1st

07:30/12:30 Mulholland, Buckley;
07:41/12:41 Hynes, Dooley, Williamson;
07:52/12:52 Cannon, Dunne, McKinstry;
08:03/13:03 Shiel, E Murphy, Smith;
08:14/13:14 Whelan, Maccanna, Lenehan;
08:25/13:25 Walker, Hearn, Hood;
08:36/13:36 McGlynn, Collins, Connolly;
08:47/13:47 Griffin, O'Keeffe, K Murphy.

1st/10th

07:30/12:30 Tiernan, Maguire, Hewitt;
07:41/12:41 Farrell, Ward, Harkin;
07:52/12:52 Deasy, Latimer, O’Neill;
08:03/13:03 Kennedy, Jones, Knightly;
08:14/13:14 Ronan, O'Connell, Brazill;
08:25/13:25 Doherty, Hogg, Rafferty;
08:36/13:36 Hickey, Fox, McDonnell;
08:47/13:47 Hill, Madden, Hedger.

After 36 holes

Qualifiers

137 S Hedger (West Kilbride) 70 67;

139 J Madden (Royal Portrush) 67 72;

140 A Hill (Roscommon) 71 69;

142 J McDonnell (Forrest Little) 74 68, J Fox (Portmarnock) 73 69;

143 C Hickey (Dooks) 72 71, C Rafferty (Dundalk) 70 73, D Hogg (Belvoir Park) 69 74;

144 J Doherty (Carton House) 73 71, R Brazill (Naas) 71 73, S O'Connell (Athenry) 70 74;

145 B Ronan (Co Louth) 75 70, R Knightly (Royal Dublin) 75 70, S Jones (Belvoir Park) 74 71, M Kennedy (Royal Dublin) 72 73, L O'Neill (Connemara) 72 73;

146 R Latimer (Clandeboye) 75 71, M Deasy (Douglas) 75 71, C Harkin (Letterkenny) 75 71, S Ward (Belvoir Park) 74 72, E Farrell (Ardee) 72 74;

147 J Hewitt (Tandragee) 76 71, A Maguire (Laytown & Bettystown) 75 72, G Tiernan (Co Louth) 75 72, K Murphy (Arklow) 75 72, P O'Keeffe (Douglas) 74 73, R Griffin (Ballybofey & Stranorlar) 72 75, P Connolly (The Links Portmarnock) 71 76, G Collins (Rosslare) 71 76, S McGlynn (Portmarnock) 71 76, J Hood (Galgorm Castle) 71 76, J Hearn (Tramore) 71 76;

148 S Walker (Roscommon) 74 74, G Lenehan (Portmarnock) 74 74, C MacCanna (Carton House) 73 75, J Whelan (Grange) 72 76, A Smith (Mullingar) 71 77;

149 E Murphy (Dundalk) 77 72, M Shiel (Galway Bay) 74 75, M McKinstry (Cairndhu) 74 75, G Dunne (Co Louth) 73 76;

150 R Cannon (Balbriggan) 78 72, R Williamson (Holywood) 77 73, A Dooley (Carton House) 77 73, R Hynes (Royal Dublin) 77 73, P Buckley (Cork) 76 74, A Mulholland (Castlerock) 75 75.

Non qualifiers

151 J O'Neill (Tralee) 79 72, S McLoughlin (Co Sligo) 79 72, S Desmond (Monkstown) 77 74, P O'Hanlon (Carton House) 76 75, S Flanagan (Portmarnock) 76 75, C Ryan (Bray) 76 75, C Moulds (Lisburn) 75 76, C Denvir (Elm Park) 75 76, C Campbell (Warrenpoint) 75 76, A Hickey (Ballyhaunis) 74 77, L Abom (Edmondstown) 74 77, L Lynch (Naas) 74 77, J Butler (Killeen) 72 79, G Callaghan (Co Louth) 72 79;

152 J Murphy (Dundalk) 81 71, I O'Connell (Castleknock) 77 75, A Doran (Co Louth) 77 75, J Hyland (Omagh) 76 76, M O'Sullivan (Laytown & Bettystown) 76 76, A Grant (Dundalk) 76 76, G Cullen (The Links Portmarnock) 75 77, H Gillivan (Westport) 75 77;

153 D Reddan Jnr (Nenagh) 79 74, A Marshall (Lisburn) 79 74, J Byrne (Baltinglass) 78 75, K Patton (Lisburn) 78 75, I O'Rourke (Cork) 77 76, C Byrne (Strabane) 76 77, C Tracey (Co Louth) 75 78, D Flynn (Carton House) 75 78, D Foy (Laytown & Bettystown) 75 78;

154 T Dowdall (Woodbrook) 79 75, L Curran (Castleknock) 78 76, W Beatty (Greenacres) 78 76, A Claridge (Enville) 77 77, E Sullivan (Carton House) 77 77, D Keating (Seapoint) 77 77, F Dobbin (Malone) 77 77, J Claridge (Enville) 75 79, R Carvill (Warrenpoint) 74 80;

155 S Carroll (Ballybunion) 80 75, S McDermott (Slieve Russell) 79 76, A Brady (Co Sligo) 78 77, J Hanney (The Island) 78 77, G Bohill (Co Louth) 78 77;

156 C Dean (Dun Laoghaire) 84 72, R McCrory (Lurgan) 81 75, S Miskelly (Knock) 79 77, C Byrne (Woodbrook) 76 80, A McCann (Co Louth) 75 81, P O Dochartaigh (Gweedore) 74 82;

157 D Marshall (Naas) 80 77, S O'Connor (Castlebar) 79 78, J Pierse (Portmarnock) 79 78;

158 C Dullaghan (Greenore) 83 75, J Kelly (Ardee) 80 78, R Kennelly (Castleknock) 80 78, J Lyons (Galway) 78 80, M Feenan (Mourne) 77 81, Q Carew (Castleknock) 77 81, J Boles (Charleville) 76 82;

159 D Shiel (Powerscourt) 84 75, M Nolan (Dun Laoghaire) 81 78, R McNelis (Fintona) 79 80;

160 M O Sullivan (Ballyneety) 80 80, C O'Connor (Corrstown) 80 80, J Blake (The Island) 79 81, M Cain (Cork) 77 83;

161 C Clarke (Balmoral) 80 81, M Grehan (Tullamore) 78 83;

162 M McKenna (Dun Laoghaire) 83 79;

164 S O'Rourke (Tulfarris) 85 79, D Murray (Co Louth) 83 81, D O'Riordan (Fermoy) 82 82;

167 C Cassidy (Tullamore) 82 85;

168 S Whelan (Royal Tara) 84 84, C Woodroofe (Dun Laoghaire) 77 91;

169 J Rowe (Belvoir Park) 82 87;

173 K Connolly (Donegal) 82 91;

RTD 84 A McCabe (The Links Portmarnock); H Duggan (Kilkenny).