Kinsale’s John Murphy played 30 holes in a sensational 10-under par to move into contention for his maiden Challenge Tour title in the Mangaung Open at Bloemfontein Golf Club in South Africa.

The former Walker Cup star (23) had 12 holes of his weather-delayed second round to compete and made an eagle and five birdies against a bogey and a double-bogey in a 68 to move up to 41st on seven-under at halfway.

Tom McKibbin shot 70 to make the six-under cut on the mark as Richard O’Donovan missed by two after a 69 with Robin Dawson three shots further back after a 73.

But it was Murphy who made a move in the afternoon, carding a bogey-free, eight-under 64 o move up to tied eighth on 15-under, just four shots behind Scotland’s Craig Ross.

Scores

Murphy was eight strokes behind halfway leads MJ Viljoen but slammed the foot on the gas in the afternoon, taking advantage of receptive conditions to make eight birdies in his 64 as Ross got to 19-under with two holes of his third round to complete when play was suspended overnight due to thunder and lightning.

“It was nice to put a bogey-free round together. I’ve been waiting a while for that one with no mistakes on the scorecard,” said Murphy, who made four birdies on each nine.

“I played lovely out there; it’s scoreable, but you still have to go out and do it. But I made eight birdies and 10 pars, so it was nice to have a mistake-free scorecard and feel good about my game.

“The greens are not too soft, so you can fire at the pins and they will be fine. So absolutely, it was gettable out there. They didn’t set it up too tough and there were certainly scores out there.

“But you still had to go and do it it was, so it’s nice to put a decent number together.”

Ross holds a one-shot lead over South Africa’s Jbe Kruger, who carded a course record 61 before round three was suspended.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been in contention,” Murphy said. “These last few weeks, I’ve been trotting along in the middle of the leaderboards, so I felt I was close to playing well and thankfully, I managed to play well today and put myself up there.

“I’m still going to be a decent few back heading into tomorrow, but I’m looking forward to going out and trying to shoot a number.

“I think I found something in my game there the last few days, and I certainly feel a lot better with the irons, so I’m just going try and go out and make as many good swings as possible and see where that leaves me.”

McKibbin was tied 71st on six-under, level for the day after mixing five birdies with five bogeys, with two holes to complete on Sunday.