Turner eyes the prize at Ballykisteen
Niall Turner. Picture: PGA Europro Tour
PGA Europro Tour — Niall Turner will take a one-shot lead over a bunched field into the final round of the Great National Hotels Irish Masters at Great National Ballykisteen Golf Hotel.
The Asian Tour regular added a six under par 66 to his opening 67 to lead on 11 under par in the HotelPlanner.com PGA EuroPro Tour event at the Tipperary resort.
“All parts of my game have been pretty good so far,” said Turner. “If you drive it nicely out here you have a lot of short irons in. I have driven well so far and my wedges have been good so I have given myself a lot of birdie chances.
“This is my first time at Ballykisteen – it is a really enjoyable course to play and it is in great condition.
"It will probably be similar scoring tomorrow. If you get to 16 or 17 under that would be tough to beat but there is a very low one out there so you are going to need to keep making birdies.
“I am a full Asian Tour member. I’m hoping to play some more EuroPro over the summer but I missed Q School as I was over in Asia, so hopefully a good finish this week and I can play some more EuroPro over the summer.”
England's Chris Lloyd (69, 67) and Delgany's Mark Staunton (69, 67) share fifth on eight under with Brian Casey (70, 67) and Dermot McElroy (70 67) just a shot further back.
A cut to the leading 50 players and ties fell at three-under par, which meant an early exit for 20 Irish players, including last week's winner at Close House, Gavin Moynihan.
Great National Hotels Irish Masters, Ballykisteen Golf & Country Club (Par 72)
1 Niall Turner Unattached 67 66 133
T5 Mark Staunton Delgany Golf Club 69 6 136
T7 Brian Casey BLACKSTAR 70 67 137
T7 Dermot McElroy Ballymena Golf Club 70 67 137
T16 David Higgins Waterville Golf Links 70 68 138
T31 Tim Rice Limerick Golf Club 71 68 139
T38 Damien McGrane 72 68 140
T38 Cian McNamara Monkstown Golf Club 69 7 140
T48 Stephen Grant Mount Juliet 70 71 141
CUT
MC Colm Moriarty Drive Golf Performance Limited 71 71 142
MC Michael McGeady LDN Pharma Ltd. 73 69 142
MC Jonathan Caldwell Clandeboye Golf Club 70 72 142
MC Brendan McCarroll Narin & Portnoo Golf Club 71 71 142
MC Niall Kearney The Royal Dublin 74 69 143
MC David Rawluk The Island Golf Club 70 73 143
MC Ciaran Molloy Blackwood Golf Centre 73 71 144
MC Steven Quinlan Halpenny Golf 74 70 144
MC Brian McElhinney North West Golf Club 73 71 144
MC David Carey Unattached 72 74 146
MC Reeve Whitson Royal County Down Golf Club 71 74 145
MC Declan Loftus Unattached 72 75 147
MC Joe Dillon Headfort Golf Club 73 75 148
MC Michael Durcan Beverley and East Riding GC 74 74 148
MC Gavin Moynihan Mount Wolseley Golf Resort 74 75 149
MC Ger Hall Edenderry Golf Academy 77 74 151
MC Nial Kearns Omagh Golf Club 79 76 155
MC Peter Williamson Unattached 75 81 156
MC Simon Bryan Delgany Golf Club 80 79 159
MC David Ruddy Ballykisteen 85 76 161