Portuguese teenager Pedro Figueiredo took advantage of a spectacular eagle two to fire a course record five-under par 67 and snatch a share of the lead entering the final 36-holes of the AIB Irish Amateur Open at Royal Dublin today.

The 16-year-old from Lisbon holed a seven-iron from 154 yards at the 410-yard eighth to turn in two-under par before picking up three birdies in his last five holes to top the leaderboard with 26-year-old Englishman Mark Thistleton (68) on four-under par 140.

The pair hold a slim, one-stroke lead over Scotland international Paul O’Hara (71) with Banbridge’s Connor Doran (71), Forrest Little’s Eoin Arthurs (74), Irish Close champion Shane Lowry (71) and Frenchman Olivier Serres (72) lurking just two strokes off the pace on two-under par.

Tipped as a future star in the Rory McIlroy mould, Figueiredo made the cut in the Madeira Islands Open and Portuguese Open on the European Tour earlier this year and plans to play collegiate golf in the US when finishes secondary school next summer.

“I think the score is better than the way I played but I took my opportunities,” Figueiredo said. “I was not comfortable over the ball but luck was with me today and I hope I can continue to shoot low scores tomorrow and play a little more consistently.”

Thisleton went out in one-under par but came home in three-under par for a 68 that inspired playing partner and overnight leader Arthurs to rescue what could have been an ugly round.

The Forrest Little man double bogeyed the first and was five over par at the turn but came home in three-under for a 74 that gives him a chance of victory entering the final two rounds today.

Beaten four times in championship semi-finals, 25-year-old Ulsterman Doran was three-over after ten holes but played the remainder in four under for a 71 that kept his hopes very much alive.

Bidding for his third victory of the season, Irish champion Lowry birdied the 17th for his second 71 on the trot, explaining: “I have to keep doing what I am doing and hope a few putts drop. I am nearly there I feel there is a good score in me this week.”

AIB Irish Amateur Open, Royal Dublin (par 72)

AIB Irish Amateur Open
Tee-times (Rd3/Rd4) Sunday

(07:00/12:30) Kristiansen, Carson;
(07:09/12:39) Gould, Pollari;
(07:18/12:48) Hogan, Illouz, Booth;
(07:27/12:57) O'Hanlon, Lando-Casanova, Gabella-Wenne;
(07:36/13.06) Carvill, Fox, Mikkelsen;
(07:45/13.15) Veijalainen, Ozcan, Smedley;
(07:54/13.24) Rouilleaux, Knappe, Satama;
(08:03/13.33) Brun, Richardson, Dear;
(08:12/13.42) Murray, Cannon, Guillaume;
(08:21/13.51) Abadie, Hemstock, Lernihan;
(08:30/14.00) Kearney, Kellett, McNicoll;
(08:39/14.09) Gorey, Delay-Termoz, Keenan;
(08:48/14.18) Macaulay, Morris, Oueld-Es-Cheikh;
(08:57/14.27) Cambis, De Vries, Arthurs;
(09:06/14.36) Serres, Lowry, Doran;
(09:15/14.45) O'Hara, Thistleton, Figueiredo.

After 36 Holes:
140: P Figueiredo (Portugal) 73 67, M Thistleton (England) 72 68
141: P O'Hara (Scotland) 70 71
142: C Doran (Banbridge) 71 71, S Lowry (Esker Hills) 71 71, O Serres (France) 70 72, E Arthurs (Forrest Little) 68 74
143: F De Vries (Holland) 73 70, G Cambis (France) 72 71
144: M Oueld-Es-Cheikh (France) 73 71
145: J Morris (Rosslare) 76 69, C Macaulay (Scotland) 75 70, F Keenan (England) 73 72, M Delay-Termoz (France) 73 72, N Gorey (Lee Valley) 73 72, K McNicoll (Scotland) 73 72, R Kellett (Scotland) 73 72, N Kearney (Royal Dublin) 72 73, D Lernihan (Castle) 72 73, B Hemstock (England) 70 75
146: F Abadie (France) 76 70, V Guillaume (France) 75 71, R Cannon (L'town & B'town) 74 72, P Murray (Limerick) 73 73
147: G Dear (Scotland) 74 73, E Richardson (England) 73 74, J Brun (France) 73 74, H Satama (Finland) 73 74
148: A Knappe (Germany) 77 71, F Rouilleaux (France) 75 73, J Smedley (England) 75 73, G Ozcan (Turkey) 75 73, M Veijalainen (Finland) 74 74, J Mikkelsen (Norway) 73 75, J Fox (Portmarnock) 73 75, J Carvill (Warrenpoint) 72 76
149: A Gabella-Wenne (Sweden) 80 69, J Lando-Casanova (France) 78 71, P O'Hanlon (Curragh) 77 72, W Booth (Scotland) 77 72, F Illouz (France) 76 73, A Hogan (Newlands) 76 73, T Pollari (Finland) 75 74, Z Gould (Wales) 74 75, R Carson (Scotland) 74 75, A Kristiansen (Norway) 70 79

Non-qualifiers:
150: R McGee (Malone) 78 72, R Leonard (Banbridge) 77 73, C Perrot (France) 76 74, M Hillson (Scotland) 76 74, J Guilllet (France) 75 75, J Lyons (Galway) 75 75, A Levy (France) 74 76, P Cutler (Portstewart) 73 77, C Curley (Newlands) 73 77, B Newsome (England) 70 80
151: D Bobrowski (France) 79 72, R McKnight (Scotland) 78 73, G Yates (Scotland) 77 74, N Henderson (Scotland) 76 75, J Stalter (France) 76 75, M Stewart (Scotland) 75 76, B Walton (The Island) 74 77, R Hooper (Wales) 74 77, J Roth (Denmark) 73 78, M Durcan (Co Sligo) 72 79, X Poncelet (France) 72 79
152: M Lavelle (K Club) 78 74, E Mercadier (France) 78 74, M Hocaoglu (Turkey) 77 75, T Dreher (France) 77 75, D Antonelli (France) 75 77
153: K McDonagh (Athlone) 78 75, S Brown (England) 77 76, J Monaghan (The Island) 77 76, S Gautier (France) 77 76, S Henry (Scotland) 76 77, L Eriksson (Finland) 75 78, J Lerchedahl (Denmark) 74 79
154: K McAlpine (Scotland) 80 74, T Gornik (Slovenia) 80 74, E Vieilledent (France) 78 76, O Sharpe (England) 77 77, P McLean (Scotland) 76 78, R Durnin (L'town & B'town) 74 80, E Kennedy (Rosapenna) 73 81
155: L Lennox (Moyola Park) 80 75, S Webster (Castle) 79 76, L Tintera (Czech Republic) 78 77, Z Saltman (Scotland) 77 78, S Malone (Australia) 75 80
156: S McAllister (Scotland) 79 77, M Novy (Czech Republic) 78 78, A McAllister (Portmarnock) 77 79, G Lawlor (City West) 77 79, J Gallagher (Scotland) 77 79, L Weber (France) 75 81
157: K Turlan (France) 84 73, T Linard (France) 82 75, R Boal (Castle) 78 79, N Grant (Knock) 77 80
158: N Dean (England) 84 74, M Sinclair (Knock) 84 74
159: A Pierse (Tipperary) 83 76, E Charmat (France) 83 76, G Blainey (England) 81 78, G Hall (Edenderry) 80 79
160: E McAnoy (Knock) 80 80, L Cohen-Boyer (France) 74 86
161: J Prince (England) 85 76, X Feyaerts (Belguim) 82 79, N Peyrichou (France) 82 79
162: R Dupuis (France) 79 83
165: B Fennelly (Royal Dublin) 78 87
169: A Arnaudet (France) 91 78
DQ: R Zwahlen (France) 76 DQ
WTD: R McCarthy (The Island) 77 WD