Galway’s Liam Nolan (pictured above by Golffile) bounced back from an opening double bogey to surge four shots clear heading into today’s final round of the Flogas Irish Men’s Amateur Open Championship at County Sligo.

The Irish international carded his second six-under 66 of the week to lead on 13-under from Walker Cup and Ireland teammate Matt McClean and by seven shots from County Louth teenager Gavin Tiernan.

The 54-hole cut fell at eight over with 52 players advancing to play golf today.

Nolan had six birdies on his front nine after the blip on the first and he built on that with four more birdies on the back nine for another phenomenal effort.

“It was all just a response to the first hole,” said Nolan.

“I pulled it into the rough and I got a flier out over the wall beside the green. So I doubled the first and I think the whole front nine was just a response to that.

“When you get a freak shot like that on the first hole you just have to be able to push it aside and pretend you are walking to the first tee again. There is not much else you can do. Just try and bounce back and get back up to the top.

“I didn’t want it to define my round, just start again and push on and try and make as many birdies as possible. I made a lot of birdies, I made a couple of bogeys but it just so happens that the par came at ten today.”

Nolan will play alongside McClean for the fourth day running, this time in two-ball format, after the world number 80, posted a solid 70 on Saturday.

McClean had four birdies in all but bogeys on the 4^th, 10^th and 15^th halted his progress when Nolan was in touching distance.

Nevertheless, he closed out his round with three pars and looks the most likely challenger with the conditions set to worsen on Sunday.

“Who knows what the weather is going to do here. If it’s raining we’ll grind it out and shoot as low a score as I can,” said McClean.

“I’m playing with Liam again tomorrow, so I’ll have an idea, he’s seven ahead of third so probably have an idea of what the lead is going to be throughout the day.

“A bit of work to do but four shots isn’t a huge amount around here. Just need to get off to a fast start in the morning.

“He’s there and at least you can see what the target is and have an idea of how he’s playing. Hopefully just play pretty aggressive again and try to catch him.”

Flogas Irish Men’s Amateur Open, Co Sligo GC (Par 71)

After 54 holes

Qualifiers

200 Liam Nolan (Galway) 66 68 66;

204 Matthew McClean (Malone) 66 68 70;

207 Gavin Tiernan (County Louth) 65 72 70;

209 Tom Matthews (Wal) 71 68 70;

210 Joe O’Neill (Berehaven) 67 69 74;

211 Matthew Wilson (Sco) 73 67 71, Keith Egan (Carton House) 69 71 71, Sean Keeling (Roganstown) 70 73 68, David Tomi (Cze) 69 72 70,  Daniel Bennett (RSA) 74 69 68;

212 Gregor Tait (Sco) 69 71 72;

213 TJ Ford (County Sligo) 68 71 74;

214 Frederik Dortmans (Eng 71 70 73, Hugh Foley (Royal Dublin) 70 73 71, Fionn Dobbin (Malone) 71 72 71;

215 David Howard (Fota Island) 70 71 74, Shane McDermott (Slieve Russell) 72 68 75, Michael Roche (Eng) 73 70 72, Adam Smith (Mullingar) 70 73 72, Gregor Graham (Sco) 69 75 71;

216 Jake Whelan (Grange) 69 75 72,  Colm Hughes (Castle) 72 72 72, Jack McDonnell (Royal Dublin) 69 75 72, Caolan Rafferty (Dundalk) 73 71 72;

217 Sam Mukherjee (Sco) 70 74 73, Luke Kelly (Dunfanaghy) 70 70 77, Cian O’Connor (Roscommon) 73 72 72, David Reddan (Nenagh) 73 72 72, Cian Harkin (Letterkenny) 75 73 69,  Darragh Flynn (Carton House) 74 72 71;

218 Max Weaver (Wales) 70 70 78,  James Temple (Portmarnock) 74 72 72, Sean Cooper (Enniscorthy) 73 72 73;

219 Jamie Butler (Naas) 71 72 76, David Kitt (Athenry) 70 73 76, Oscar Murphy (Royal Portrush) 73 74 72, Ryan Griffin (Ballybofey) 71 74 74, Thomas Abom (Edmondstown) 73 75 71;

220 Harry Gillivan (Portmarnock) 72 73 75, James Fox (Portmarnock) 74 71 75, Eoin Murphy (Dundalk) 75 71 74, Andrew Mulholland (Castlerock) 75 71 74, Graham Donohoe (Enniscorthy) 70 76 74, Ryan Williams (Wal) 74 72 74, Dwayne Mallon (Dungannon) 74 74 72, Robert Galligan (Elm Park) 76 71 73;

221 Jack Hearn (Tramore) 72 73 76, Jonathan Keane (Lahinch) 75 69 77, Dominic McGlinchey (Sco) 73 73 75, Morgan Cain (Cork) 71 75 75, Sean Reddy (Douglas) 73 75 73, Paul Coughlan (Castleknock) 73 75 73.

Non-qualifiers

222 Gordon Sillett (Ballykisteen) 76 74 72, Ross Laird (Scot) 74 74 74,  Aodhagan Brady (County Sligo) 74 73 75, Christian Johnson (Eng) 75 72 75,  Jake Foley (Elm Park) 73 74 75, Ruairi O’Connor (County Sligo) 68 76 78, Peter O’Keeffe (Douglas) 75 69 78, Scott Mann (Sco) 73 71 78;

223 Jacob Kelso (Eng) 73 76 74,  Allan Hill (Roscommon) 75 74 74, Colm Campbell (Warrenpoint) 68 79 76, Scott Spark (Sco) 73 74 76, John Doyle (Fota Island) 78 68 77, Quentin Carew (Castleknock) 73 73 77, James Stenson (The Island) 73 72 78, Gary Collins (Rosslare) 71 74 78, Rory Gallagher (Galway Bay) 74 68 81;

224 Robbie Cannon (Balbriggan) 74 76 74, Brodie Cunningham (Sco) 74 77 73, Sean Flanagan (Portmarnock) 74 75 75, Conor Hickey (Dooks) 76 73 75, Oliver Mukherjee (Sco) 74 75 75, Mark Gazi (Tralee) 77 71 76, James Hewitt (Tandragee) 73 75 76, Shea Dorman (Bangor) 73 75 76, Mark Doogue (Castleknock) 71 75 78;

225 Alexander Farmer (Sco) 77 78 70, Seamus Cullen (Slieve Russell) 75 75 75, Alyx Murray (Sco) 71 79 75, Richard Knightly (Royal Dublin) 73 73 79;

226 Paul Carey (Nenagh) 78 73 75, David Brady (Straffan) 73 77 76, Lewis Gowdy (Bangor) 77 73 76, Ben Best (Rathmore) 74 75 77;

227 Adam Allahbachani (Powerscourt) 73 80 74, Evan Farrell (County Louth) 79 73 75, Seán McLoughlin (County Sligo) 73 79 75, Simon Walker (Roscommon) 74 76 77, Liam Abom (Edmondstown) 76 73 78, Sean Murphy (Grange) 74 75 78;

228 Robert Walsh (Douglas) 79 74 75, Jordan Boles (Charleville) 77 75 76, Paraic Connolly (The Links Portmarnock) 73 79 76, Adam Scott (Sco) 75 74 79, Charlie Smyth (Slieve Russell) 73 75 80;

229 Robbie Hynes (Royal Dublin) 83 73 73, Adam Buchanan (Royal Portrush) 75 80 74, Darryl Gwilliam (Eng) 73 82 74, Benjamin Oberholzer (Clandeboye) 71 82 76, Ross McCormack (Palmerstown House Estate) 74 79 76, Aaron Marshall (Lisburn) 71 73 85;

230 Marc Norton (Belvoir Park) 78 77 75, Conor Stapleton (Connemara) 80 73 77, Rory McConnell (Belvior Park) 78 74 78, Eoin Sullivan (Portmarnock) 79 73 78, Caolan Burford (Wal) 77 73 80, Theo Baker (Wal) 74 76 80, Edward Reed (Eng) 72 73 85;

231 Edward Rowe (Belvoir Park) 78 76 77, Mark Cadden(Roganstown) 78 75 78, Ryan McNelis (Fintona) 76 75 80;

232 Sean David (Wal) 81 76 75, Donnacha Cleary (Tipperary) 79 75 78, Simon Austin (AUT) 75 79 78, Andrew Benson (Sco) 73 78 81, Julius Sommer (SUI) 72 78 82;

233 Lorcan O'Connor (Edmondstown) 75 81 77, Dylan Kayne (RSA) 77 73 83;

234 Aaron Foley (Edmondstown) 82 77 75, Alex Jaap (Wal) 81 75 78, David Marshall (Naas) 78 76 80;

235 Colin Smith (County Sligo) 79 74 82;

236 Ross Nelson (Belvoir Park) 75 79 82;

237 Aidan Dooley (Carton House) 76 81 80, Miles Gray (Eng) 75 78 84;

238 Kevin Robinson (Castlewarden) 79 79 80;

239 Luke Harris (Hermitage) 90 72 77, Lucas McKeen(County Louth) 78 83 78;

240 Finn Coull (Sco) 79 83 78, John Tandberg (SUI) 82 71 87;

241 Jake Adler (Nenagh) 75 87 79;

245 Samuel Gammell (Naas) 77 80 88;

WD Paul O'Hanlon (Carton House) 72 WD, Marc McKinstry (Cairndhu) 75 WD, Ross Latimer (Clandeboye) 77 WD, Dean O’Riordan (Fermoy) 81 WD.