Conor Purcell will take a three-stroke lead into the weekend of the Black Desert NI Open presented by Tom McKibbin, after impressing for the second straight day at Galgorm.
The Irishman fired a bogey-free five under par round of 65 in testing conditions to reach nine under par for the week, three clear of Dane Jeppe Kristian Andersen, Swede Joakim Lagergren and Wil Besseling from the Netherland’s who share second.
The 27-year-old will go into the weekend in a commanding position, with his accuracy off the tee rewarded as wind and rain hit Co. Antrim.
“I’m very pleased,” he said. “Any time you can go bogey-free it’s very nice, and especially round here. It’s quite demanding, so I did a good job.
“Me and my caddie did a great job. There were a lot of tricky wind conditions, a lot of crosswinds, but we were hitting good shots.
“I kept myself in position off the tee, and I think it didn’t feel as difficult as it probably should’ve because of that.”
Purcell has enjoyed a strong first half of the Road to Mallorca season, recording three top ten finishes in 13 starts to sit 24th in the Road to Mallorca Rankings.
With the top 20 earning promotion to the DP World Tour at the end of the year, Purcell is pleased to be in contention once more as he targets an elusive first Challenge Tour title.
“Any time you’re up there, it gives you that extra motivation to keep it going for four days,” he added. “I’ve been playing nicely this year so hopefully there’s more of the same tomorrow.
“After missing the cut last week I made sure to tell myself my game wasn’t too far away. It felt very close and it’s just about piecing it together for four rounds.
“I know golf is well supported up here, and I love playing in front of people, so I’m looking forward to the weekend.”
Pierre Pineau occupies solo fifth on five under par, with six players one shot further back in sixth including Frenchmen Oihan Guillamoundeguy and Robin Sciot-Siegrist, Dane Lucas Bjerregaard, Englishman Jack Senior, Swede Per Längfors and Welshman Toby Hunt.
The third round gets under way at 8:05am local time, with Purcell teeing off alongside Andersen and Lagergren at 12:00pm.
