Cormac Sharvin credited a week's practice at home for his upturn in form after he fired a bogey-free 65 to move to within a shot of the lead in the Galgorm Resort & Spa NI Open, presented by Modest! Golf.

South Korea's Minkyu Kim eagled his final hole of the day to post a 67 and take a one-stroke lead over Sharvin, Denmark's Mark Flindt  Haastrup (66), Wales' Stuart Manley (68) and France's Victor Perez (64) into the weekend as nine of the 24-strong home challenge made the level par cut.

After missing five of his last six cuts, Sharvin (25) chose to spend last week practising at home with his coach Paul Vaughan at Ardglass and the decision appears to have paid off.

“I felt really prepared for this week, he said. "Mentally I am in a much better place and am swinging a lot better too as I have been struggling a bit the last five weeks.

"The course was playing really nice, after the really dry spell we had this year. The fairways are still really lush and the greens are running really nice. I managed to hole a few putts today too, so that was nice.

"I kept giving myself chances and to convert two towards the end of the round is nice, but tomorrow is a new day. I just have to commit to every shot tomorrow and see where that takes me."

Clandeboye's Jonny Caldwell is the next best of the home brigade, just three off the lead, tied for ninth on eight under after a 66 with Ballymena's Dermot McElroy (67) tied 22nd on four-under.

Galgorm Resort & Spa NI Open, presented by Modest! Golf, Galgorm Castle (Par 71)

Detailed scores

131 M Kim (Kor) 64 67, 

132 S Manley (Wal) 64 68, Cormac Sharvin (Nir) 67 65, V Perez (Fra) 68 64, M Haastrup (Den) 66 66, 

133 C Hill (Sco) 66 67, S Henry (Sco) 67 66, R Kellett (Sco) 67 66, 

134 Jonathan Caldwell (Nir) 68 66, L Van Meijel (Ned) 68 66, 

135 E Ferguson (Sco) 69 66, 

136 D Stewart (Sco) 68 68, F Laporta (Ita) 70 66, V Østerby (Den) 65 71, 

137 R Saxton (Ned) 69 68, R Enoch (Wal) 70 67, B Stow (Eng) 67 70, E España (Fra) 67 70, M Gaspar (Por) 68 69, M Armitage (Eng) 65 72, J McDonald (Sco) 70 67, 

138 C Del Moral (Esp) 70 68, B Parker (Eng) 71 67, Dermot McElroy (Nir) 71 67, R Finch (Eng) 65 73, 

139 S Locke (Sco) 68 71, J White (Eng) 69 70, J McLeary (Sco) 70 69, R McGowan (Eng) 68 71, B Easton (RSA) 70 69, Michael McGeady (Irl) 71 68, 

140 L Ruuska (Fin) 71 69, T Murray (Eng) 72 68, W Besseling (Ned) 69 71, Kevin Phelan (Irl) 72 68, S Hutsby (Eng) 68 72, M Lampert (Ger) 70 70, D Perrier (Fra) 69 71, M Schneider (Ger) 69 71, J Singh Brar (Eng) 69 71, C Braeunig (Ger) 68 72, 

141 Neil O'Briain (Irl) 71 70, R Van West (Ned) 71 70, Chris Selfridge (Nir) 72 69, R De Sousa (Sui) 73 68, A Knappe (Ger) 69 72, M Galiano Aguilar (Esp) 70 71, B Ritthammer (Ger) 71 70, A Velasco (Esp) 73 68, I Cantero Gutierrez (Esp) 70 71, H Joannes (Bel) 70 71, J Kunzenbacher (Ger) 74 67, S Dyson (Eng) 72 69, J Brun (Fra) 68 73, C Tarren (Eng) 69 72, J Senior (Eng) 66 75, J Huldahl (Den) 68 73, 

142 M Schmitt (Ger) 71 71, M Orrin (Eng) 68 74, J Doherty (Sco) 71 71, J Girrbach (Sui) 72 70, J Vecchi Fossa (Ita) 69 73, F Palson (Swe) 73 69, S Einhaus (Ger) 71 71, M Carlsson (Swe) 67 75, Conor O'Rourke (Irl) 71 71, R Roussel (Fra) 71 71, N Møller (Den) 71 71, R Langasque (Fra) 69 73, D Huizing (Ned) 68 74, Niall Kearney (Irl) 72 70, B Hellgren (Swe) 73 69, 

CUT

143 J Carlota (Por) 69 74, R Santos (Por) 70 73, Brendan McCarroll (Irl) 72 71, E Johansen (Nor) 71 72, N Kimsey (Eng) 72 71, N Johansson (Swe) 69 74, C Doak (Sco) 74 69, S Matus (Cze) 73 70, M Ovesen (Den) 70 73, K Hesbois (Bel) 72 71, O Wilson (Eng) 74 69, Michael Hoey (Nir) 70 73, 

144 R Macintyre (Sco) 76 68, Stephen Grant (Irl) 72 72, D Foos (Ger) 75 69, Stuart Grehan (Irl) 69 75, H Leon (Chi) 73 71, L Nemecz (Aut) 71 73, John Ross Galbraith (Nir) 73 71, Gavin Moynihan (Irl) 73 71, D Brown (Eng) 72 72, N Geyger (Chi) 71 73, 

145 Gary Hurley (Irl) 77 68, L Johnston (Sco) 73 72, Paul McBride (Irl) 73 72, J Van Der Vaart (Ned) 73 72, M Iten (Sui) 72 73, J Sharp (Eng) 76 69, J Munro (Aus) 72 73, G Migliozzi (Ita) 71 74, L Acikalin (am) (Tur) 73 72, 

146 C Feldborg Nielsen (Swe) 71 75, Richard Kilpatrick (Nir) 73 73, H Casey (Eng) 75 71, B Eccles (Aus) 76 70, M Madsen (Den) 75 71, B Evans (Eng) 71 75, R Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 75 71, Ruaidhri McGee (Irl) 68 78, D Berna Manzanares (Esp) 71 75, J Brooks (Eng) 73 73, F Maccario (Ita) 71 75, D Law (Sco) 72 74, A Singh Brar (am) (Eng) 77 69, 

147 E Di Nitto (Ita) 67 80, G Wright (Wal) 74 73, 

148 R Fitzgerald (Eng) 72 76, J Erkenbeck (USA) 74 74, M Trappel (Aut) 75 73, J Sainz (Esp) 73 75, U Coussaud (Fra) 77 71, J Rutherford (Eng) 72 76, D Løkke (Den) 73 75, C Sahlstrom (Swe) 77 71, J Allan (Eng) 71 77, 

149 N Grau Tomas (Esp) 75 74, A Hodkinson (Eng) 76 73, A Bernadet (Fra) 75 74, P Mejow (Ger) 73 76, P Maddy (Eng) 73 76, D Papadatos (Aus) 75 74, A Tadini (Ita) 72 77, N Marsh (Eng) 75 74, L Buijs (Bel) 75 74, Ronan Mullarney (am) (Irl) 73 76, 

150 J Adams (Eng) 73 77, 

151 S Gregory (Eng) 71 80, 

152 Brian Casey (Irl) 77 75, S Towndrow (Eng) 76 76, M Fenasse (Fra) 74 78, David Carey (Irl) 75 77, A Boasson (Isl) 78 74, 

153 F Bergamaschi (Ita) 75 78, P Howard (Eng) 79 74, P Kelly (Eng) 77 76, 

154 X Puig (Esp) 75 79, Michael Dallat (Nir) 82 72, 

156 K Ventura (Nor) 76 80, Z Felder (Sui) 81 75, A Chapman (Eng) 75 81, 

164 Joe Dillon (Irl) 84 80, 

** T Tree (Eng) 71 WD, G Forrest (Sco) 81 WD, A Ahokas (Fin) 79 WD