Moynihan and Sharvin well placed at Ras Al Khaimah
Chase Koepka. Picture: Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority
Challenge Tour — Mount Juliet's Gavin Moynihan and Arglass Cormac Sharvin are just four shots off the lead at halfway in the Ras Al Khaimah 2017 Golf Challenge.
Moynihan, who is 26th in the Road to Oman rankings with the top 15 earning European Tour cards after next week's season-ending NBO Golf Classic Grand Final, shot a second successive 69 to share sixth with Sharvin (70-68) on six-under par.
They are four strokes behind American Chase Koepka, who took a share of the lead just hours after his Major-winning brother Brooks sealed a one-shot advantage at the WGC-HSBC Champions.
On another perfect day at Al Hamra GC, Chase – the younger of the two Koepkas – made five birdies in a four under par second round of 68 to move to ten under par, sharing the halfway lead with overnight leader Jurrian van der Vaart.
Brooks’ golfing journey also began on the Challenge Tour, with the American winning four times before graduating to the European Tour in 2013 – a feat that Chase is already certain to match, currently sitting in sixth place in the Road to Oman Rankings with just one tournament remaining.
The one thing missing from Chase’s burgeoning CV at this early stage of his career is a victory – he lost in a play-off at last month’s Kazakhstan Open – but a maiden win in Ras Al Khaimah would also give him a chance of eclipsing his illustrious sibling by topping the Rankings, a feat that eluded Brooks.
“I’d love to top the Rankings,” said the 23-year-old. “I think in order to do that I’ll need to win one of these last two events so that’s my goal. It’s been a great year anyway but if I can hopefully play well this weekend, I might be able to get that first win.
“I’d love to win. I was really looking forward to possibly getting that first victory in Kazakhstan – I actually didn’t get off to the greatest of starts there but I found my way into a play-off and it just didn’t quite happen.
“I feel like my game has been great for a while now. I missed the cut two weeks ago but I actually felt probably the best I’ve felt all season going into that week, which was quite strange.
“Then last week I thought I played my best golf of the year and I finished 20th, that’s just the way golf works I guess! But this week, nothing’s really changed, I’m still playing really good golf and now the scores are there too.
“I heard about Brooks’ round in China so I just wanted to make sure I made a birdie on the last hole to make sure I’m on top of the leaderboard as well!
“It’s a good day to be a golfer called Koepka, but there’s not too many bad days to be a Koepka! Certainly not this year anyway.”
Moynihan made five birdies in his 69 as Sharvin, ranked 99th in the Road to Oman standings, made seven birdies in his 68.
Ruaidhri McGee (73 70) and Michael Hoey (72 71) are tied 48th on one-under.
Ras Al Khaimah 2017 Golf Challenge, Al Hamra GC (Par 72), Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates
134 J Van Der Vaart (Ned) 64 70, C Koepka (USA) 66 68,
135 J Guerrier (Fra) 68 67,
136 J Sarasti (Esp) 69 67, C Mivis (Bel) 71 65, A Meronk (Pol) 70 66, A Saddier (Fra) 71 65, O Stark (Swe) 66 70, J Winther (Den) 69 67,
137 M Schneider (Ger) 73 64, C Sordet (Fra) 68 69,
138 G Boyd (Eng) 69 69, T Tree (Eng) 69 69, J Girrbach (Sui) 70 68, V Perez (Fra) 67 71, Gavin Moynihan (Irl) 69 69, M Baldwin (Eng) 69 69, G Porteous (Eng) 68 70, Cormac Sharvin (Nir) 70 68, M Orrin (Eng) 68 70,
139 S Einhaus (Ger) 68 71, E Van Rooyen (RSA) 73 66, J Hansen (Den) 71 68,
140 R Saxton (Ned) 72 68, C Ford (Eng) 71 69, M Perry (Nzl) 70 70, K Samooja (Fin) 69 71, P Widegren (Swe) 71 69, M Wiegele (Aut) 71 69, M Lafeber (Ned) 72 68, P Oriol (Esp) 69 71, R Evans (Eng) 71 69, J Dantorp (Swe) 71 69, J Senior (Eng) 72 68, A Pavan (Ita) 71 69,
141 D Huizing (Ned) 70 71, A Tadini (Ita) 69 72, M Schwab (Aut) 69 72, T Linard (Fra) 71 70, S Brown (Eng) 67 74,
142 G Forrest (Sco) 73 69, T Pulkkanen (Fin) 75 67, D Law (Sco) 69 73, R Davies (Wal) 71 71, S Fernandez (Esp) 69 73, P Howard (Eng) 72 70, M Madsen (Den) 73 69,
143 Ruaidhri McGee (Irl) 73 70, B Hellgren (Swe) 72 71, N Von Dellingshausen (Ger) 70 73, R Enoch (Wal) 75 68, O Wilson (Eng) 70 73, N Johansson (Swe) 71 72, S Heisele (Ger) 68 75, F Laporta (Ita) 72 71, E Goya (Arg) 71 72, B Virto (Esp) 69 74, Michael Hoey (Nir) 72 71,
144 N Cullen (Aus) 71 73, M Kinhult (Swe) 73 71, O Farr (Wal) 74 70, C Braeunig (Ger) 75 69, S Tiley (Eng) 67 77, C Blomstrand (Swe) 70 74, M Lampert (Ger) 69 75, M Trappel (Aut) 74 70,
CUT
145 M Ovesen (Den) 73 72, J Heath (Eng) 73 72, J Arnoy (Nor) 72 73, R Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 75 70, M Ford (Eng) 73 72, R Kellett (Sco) 71 74,
146 D Dixon (Eng) 73 73, S Henry (Sco) 71 75, B Neil (Sco) 75 71, J Kunzenbacher (Ger) 76 70, R Mansell (Eng) 76 70, B Hafthorsson (Isl) 75 71, J Lando Casanova (Fra) 76 70, S Forsström (Swe) 76 70,
147 J Doherty (Sco) 72 75, D Foos (Ger) 72 75,
148 R Santos (Por) 77 71, M Nixon (Eng) 76 72, A Wennstam (Swe) 72 76, O Lengden (Swe) 78 70,
149 J McDonald (Sco) 71 78, M Haastrup (Den) 76 73, L Gagli (Ita) 73 76, T Murray (Eng) 75 74, J Allan (Eng) 74 75, B Eccles (Aus) 76 73, J Sjöholm (Swe) 72 77, M Harradine (am) (Sui) 74 75,
150 M Tullo (Chi) 74 76, G King (Eng) 75 75,
151 N Geyger (Chi) 72 79, M Burrow (am) (Eng) 73 78,
152 V Riu (Fra) 68 84,
153 D Van Driel (Ned) 78 75, D Laing (Eng) 75 78, M Lundberg (Swe) 78 75,
154 R McEvoy (Eng) 78 76,
161 M Burrell (am) (Aus) 83 78,
** M Fenasse (Fra) 79 WD
