McElhinney flying high at Nuremore
19/09/2013
Brian McElhinney retained his lofty position at the top of the leaderboard after the second round in the PGA Irish Assistants’ Championship at Nuremore.
The Foyle assistant posted a level-par 71 in difficult conditions at Carrickmacross. It was a stroke better than his opening round on Tuesday and left him one-over-par 143 with Shane O’Sullivan from Shannon next on 148.
Bogey fives at the third and fifth holes didn’t augur well for McElhinney’s hopes of keeping custody of top of the leaderboard but a three at the par four ninth left him out in 36 (one-over).
The Donegal man slipped back again with a six at the long 14th hole but he put in a strong finish with birdies four and three at the 15th and 17th to card a back nine of one-under-35 for a round of 71.
O’Sullivan would certainly have been much closer to the halfway leader but for an unfortunate triple-bogey seven at the fifth hole. He had bogey fours at 11 and 16 but spread four birdies, two fours and two threes, over his card for a 72.
The cut, at plus-26, reflected the difficult conditions with 36 players qualifying for the third and fourth rounds.
