Caldwell heads strong Irish challenge at Dundonald

Gary Murphy in action at the Irish Open this year. Photo Fran Caffrey/www.golffile.ieGary Murphy started well but former Walker Cup player Jonny Caldwell is just one stroke off the pace after a marathon day at Stage One of the European Tour Qualifying School at Dundonald Links.

High winds prevented any play on Tuesday but 36 holes were possible yesterday with Scottish amateur Philip McLean carding rounds of 69 and 70 to lead by a shot on five under 139 from Clandeboye man Caldwell (69-73) and another Scottish amateur, James White.

Only the top 15 and ties will progress to Stage Two next month and six Irishmen are inside that mark with two rounds to go. Another 31 Irish players will play their First Stage qualifiers over the next three weeks.

Donegal man Seamus McMonagle (71-74) is alone in fifth on one-over with Aaron O’Callaghan (74-72) a shot further back.

Michael Collins (76-71) and former European Tour regular Murphy (72-75) are tied for eighth on three over with Portmarnock’s Noel Fox (76-73) and Killarney’s Danny Sugrue (75-74) in a share of 12th on plus five.

Michael Lavelle (76-75) and Peter O’Keeffe (77-76) have a lot of work to do but are still within shouting distance on seven and nine over par respectively.

Second Round Scores from the European Tour Qualifying School – First Qualifying Section A, Dundonald Links, Scotland, par 72

 139 P McLean (am) (Sco) 69 70,

142 Jonny Caldwell  (Nir) 69 73, J White (am) (Sco) 69 73,

143 M Penny (Eng) 71 72,

145 S McMonagle (Irl) 71 74,

146 D Wright (Eng) 75 71, A O’Callaghan (Irl) 74 72,

147 M Collins (Irl) 76 71, G Murphy (Irl) 72 75, M Dowling (am) (Aus) 69 78,

148 N Fenwick (Sco) 74 74,

149 P McKechnie (Sco) 72 77, M Hooper  (Eng) 77 72, M Kerr  (Sco) 71 78, D Sugrue (Irl) 75 74, N Fox  (Irl) 76 73, R Dixon (Sco) 70 79, S McAllister (Sco) 76 73, G Brown (Sco) 73 76, M Lowe (Eng) 73 76,

150 D Smith (Eng) 77 73, T Sherreard  (Eng) 75 75, G Fox (Sco) 73 77, K McAlpine (Sco) 74 76, B Struthers (am) (USA) 75 75,

151 L Clarke  (Eng) 74 77, K Nicol (Sco) 73 78, M Lavelle  (Irl) 76 75, E Ramsay  (Sco) 76 75, J Findlay (Sco) 76 75,

153 G Cowan (Eng) 78 75, D Schultz (USA) 78 75, D Clark (Eng) 72 81, P O’Keeffe  (Irl) 77 76,

154 M Bush (Eng) 77 77, J Wilkinson (Eng) 77 77, J Housby (Eng) 80 74, R Cameron (Sco) 73 81,

155 S Taylor (Sco) 79 76, S Reekie (Sco) 77 78, P Badawy (USA) 77 78, J Jeong (Kor) 77 78, J Wilson (am) (Eng) 82 73, S Crookall-Nixon(am) (Eng) 75 80,

156 S Whiffin (Eng) 81 75, J Campbell (Eng) 79 77, C Matheson (Sco) 77 79, R Smith (am) (Eng) 74 82,

158 C Simpson (Eng) 78 80, E Gibbs (USA) 78 80, P O’Hara (Sco) 82 76,

159 I Colquhoun (Sco) 79 80,

160 M Isaacs (Sco) 79 81, S McCance (Eng) 77 83, L McGowan (am) (Sco) 78 82,

161 S Clark (Sco) 78 83, M Kanev (Bul) 80 81,

162 I Hall (Irl) 82 80, S Pyle (Sco) 83 79, C Lidyard (Eng) 79 83,

163 A McCabe (Eng) 87 76,

166 D Chapman (Eng) 84 82,

167 A Holt (Eng) 80 87, S Mackie (Sco) 82 85,

169 M Rubber (Eng) 88 81, (Hun);

81 C Birch  (Eng);

** J Svoboda (Cze);