Conor O'Rourke hung tough to stay within touching distance of the pacesetter in the Northern Ireland Open, supported by the R&A, at Galgorm Castle in Co Antrim; and the 27-year-old Kildare golfer promised to "try and throw off the shackles and have a crack" for the final 36-holes of the tournament.
O'Rourke added a second round 70 to his opening 69 for a midway total of one-under-par 139 at the Challenge Tour event, trailing midway leader Enrico Di Nitto by five strokes. The 27-year-old Italian was on fire on the back nine, claiming six birdies in that stretch.
JR Galbraith needed a strong finish with two birdies in the last three holes to make the cut and is also ready to push on and see what the weekend holds for him.
“I was two over with three to play but managed to birdie 16 and 18, happy to finish well,” said the 26-year-old. “It was another tough day, breezy with some torrential showers. We got caught with a bad one on the 15th.
“The rough is so juicy you just have to keep it straight. If you’re offline at all you’re making bogey or worse. It was a pretty up and down day for me, seemed like I made birdie then gave it back on the next hole, one of those days,” added Galbraith, who mixed five birdies with as many bogeys.
“Anything can happen over the weekend around this course. I’ve done the hard part making it into the weekend, so I’ll just go and freewheel. I’m playing well, no reason why I can’t make a run at it. Nothing to lose.”
Northern Ireland Open
Galgorm Castle (Par 70)
Leading scores
134 - Enrico Di Nitto (It) 68 66
135 - Gudmundur Kristjansson (Ice) 68 67, Robert Dinwiddie (Eng)69 66
136 - Ryan Evans (Eng) 71 65, Christopher Mivis (Bel) 69 67, Bradley Moore (Eng) 67 69, Martin Ovesen (Den) 68 68, Alfie Plant (Eng) 67 69
137 - Bjorn Hellgren (Swe) 68 69, Bradley Neil (Scot) 70 67, Santiago Tarrio (Sp) 69 68
138 - Kristian Johannassen (Nor) 69 69, Julien Quesne (Fr) 66 72, Tyler Koivisto (USA) 67 71, Michael Bullen (Eng) 72 66, Benjamin Busch (Swit) 71 67, Richard Mansell (Eng) 75 63, Robin Petersson (Swe)70 68
Leading Irish scores
139 - Conor O’Rourke 69 70
140 - JR Galbraith 70 70
141 - Niall Kearney 71 70
