Englishman Stuart Taylor is making life difficult for Barrie Trainor as he bids to complete an historic hat-trick in the Ladbrooks.com Irish Assistants' Championship at Dungarvan.
Taylor, an assistant at The Island, has matched Trainor over the first two rounds with the pair sharing the lead at the halfway stage. They are both on four-under-par 140 with identical rounds of 71 and 69.
In the first round, South County assistant Trainor lost three shots over the closing eight holes but, yesterday, after starting on the 10th tee, he was four-under-par from the 12th to the 18th.
For the second day he bogeyed the par four 11th but then slipped into gear with a four at the long 12th and a two at the short 13th. He made birdie three at 17 and birdie four at 18 to cover his opening nine holes in three-under-33.
The defending champion, Trainor, pencilled in his fourth birdie in a row and his fifth in eight holes when he clipped a shot off the long first after turning for home.
However, he gave that one back at the par four sixth before finishing with three pars for his 69.
Liverpudlian Taylor, winner of the Ulster PGA Championship pro-am at Castle Hume, stormed off from the first tee with four birdies in a row.
He went 4-3-4-3 but then wrecked the good work by missing the green at the short fifth and running up double-bogey five.
He recovered, however, to pencil in a two at the short eighth and turn in three-under-33 before back-to-back birdies at long 12 and short 13.
Bogeys at 14 and 16 followed as he matched Trainor's 69.
Keith O'Neill (Co Sligo), who was joint first overnight along with Trainor, Taylor and James Quinlivan, kept his challenge very much alive with 73 yesterday for third place behind the joint leaders.
However, Quinlivan slumped to an 80 to be joined seventh.