CHALLENGE TOUR: Colm Moriarty and Stephen Browne got their respective bids to win a place on the full European Tour off to respectable starts at the Apulia San Domenico Grand Final, the last event of the Challenge Tour season where the top 20 players at the end of the week will be handed tour cards.
Currently 37th and 32nd on the rankings, Browne and Moriarty both have to win or take second place on their own to guarantee a place on tour next season.
Both did their chances no harm at the beautiful links layout of San Domenico on Italy's Adriatic coast, with Browne posting a two-under 69 and Moriarty a three-under 68.
But they will have to produce some low scoring to catch runaway leader Mikael Lorenzo-Vera of France, who stormed into a three-stroke lead with a blistering, nine-under-par 62, shaving two strokes from Browne's course record set in 2005.
While Moriarty compiled a textbook 68 with four birdies, one bogey and 13 pars, Browne's first round was something of a rollercoaster, perfectly summed up by the man himself.
"It was some day, all right," smiled the Dubliner. "I started with a bogey at the first, then birdied the par three second. I drove it 10 yards short of the green at the third and chipped it in for an eagle two, then birdied the sixth and seventh and I'm thinking 'here we go'.
"Typically, at that point it started going a bit pear-shaped. I bogeyed the eighth and then hit the water on the 10th. That was another bogey, then I hit it into the rough on the 14th, got a flier over the green and then took three chips to get it on to the green.
"I managed to regroup and played the last four holes in three under. It was a really good finish, but one of those days when I wasn't sure what I had scored when I walked off the 18th green."
LET Q-SCHOOL: Martina Gillen is in a strong position to retain her card on the Ladies European Tour after shooting a second-round one-under-par 71 at final qualifying in Italy.
That left the Beaverstown player on five under par and in a share of sixth place at Le Fonti Golf Club. She is three shots behind leader Dana Lacey of Australia, who added a five-under-par 67 to her opening 69 to lead on eight-under-par.
The news was not so good for Ireland's other hopefuls. Claire Coughlan is two over after a second 73, while Hazel Kavanagh is two shots back after a second 74.
The top 50 players after today's third round survive the cut, while the top 30 after tomorrow's final round win their card.
US PGA TOUR:In-form Swede Jesper Parnevik is in high spirits for this week's Ginn Classic where he will have the benefit of home comforts. The Florida resident, who lives close to the hosting Tesoro Club in Port St Lucie, has retained his playing privileges for next season with top-20 finishes in his last three tour starts.
"It feels good and it's certainly very nice to stay at home this week," Parnevik said during preparation for today's opening round.
The 42-year-old, whose last victory came at the 2001 Honda Classic, secured his card after being edged out in a play-off for the Texas Open three weeks ago.
The €3.2 million Ginn Classic is the penultimate event on the US Tour schedule.
