If Conor Purcell is to lift the Rolex Grand Final – and top the Challenge Tour rankings – then the 27-year-old Dubliner will require to produce something truly special over the weekend at Club de Golf Alcanada, the finale to the circuit’s season where 20 full cards to the DP World Tour next season will be dispensed.
Already assured of one of those cards upon graduation from the secondary circuit, Purcell struggled in the second round 75 that had a bit of everything – an eagle, two birdies, a double bogey and five bogeys – for a midway total of two-under-par 142, all of 15 strokes behind Spain’s Angel Ayora.
Purcell entered the season’s finale at fourth in the Race to Mallorca rankings and, at the halfway juncture, is provisionally predicted to slip to sixth.
Waterford’s Gary Hurley posted a 69 to his opening 70 for 139 at the halfway point, in tied-13th in the season-ending tournament (and provisionally up two places from 43rd to 41st in the rankings) but with much work to do if he is to claim a tour card, while Co Antrim man Dermot McElroy posted a 71 for 144 to lie in tied-38th in the tournament and down five spots from his starting point to 42nd in the rolling order of merit predictor.
Ayora, 20, continued his strong performance with a bogey-free 65 in a weather-interrupted round to add to his sensational opening 62 for a 17-under-par 36-holes total of 127, two clear of Norway’s Kristoffer Reitan: “You never know what can happen but I’m going to stay calm, stay patient and we’ll see what happens. I have definitely thought about winning the rankings at the start of the week, because it’s what I want.” Play was suspended for a time due to the threat of lightning.
On the Ladies European Tour, Lauren Walsh – in her rookie season but also looking ahead to the prospect of securing an LPGA Tour card next season after making it through to the Final Qualifying next month – shot a second round 72 for a 36-hole total of four-under-par 140, to trail leader Pia Babnik of Slovakia by 10 strokes with just one round remaining of the Aramco tournament in Saudi Arabia.
Babnik – a winner of the tournament in 2021 – completed back-to-back 65s for 130 in Riyadh, two shots clear of English Solheim Cup star Charley Hull. “I like chasing, it’s more fun,” said Hull of playing the role of pursuer, in a bid for a first win in two years.
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