Purcell spearheads Irish in Abu Dhabi
Conor Purcell continued his impressive form this season when he carded a two-under 70 to lead the Irish challenge into the weekend at the Abu Dhabi Challenge.
The 25-year-old Portmarnock man — 25th in the rankings after six events — shared 14th place on five-under at halfway, nine strokes behind England’s Joshua Grenville-Wood, who shot a second successive 65 to take a one-shot lead into the weekend.
Niall Kearney shot 69 and Ruaidhri McGee a 72 to share 47th on one-over while Jonathan Caldwell made the level par cut on the mark after a brace of 72s.
Dermot McElroy’s eagle at the 18th for a 73 was too little too late as he missed out by a shot while 2017 British Masters winner Paul Dunne crashed to a 84.
Battling to regain confidence in his long game and approach play after suffering a serious hand injury in 2019, Dunne (30) was ranked 65th in the world five years ago but is now ranked 1,332nd.
On the DP World Tour, Tom McKibbin and Gary Hurley missed the cut in the Korea Championship presented by Genesis in Incheon.
McKibbin shot a two-under 70 but missed the level par cut by a shot as Hurley’s 71 left him a shot further back.
At the top of the leaderboard, Germany’s Yannick Paul shot 68 and home favourite Park Sanghyun a 69 to share the lead on eight-under at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea.
They lead by a shot from French duo Antoine Rozner and Mike Lorenzo Vera.
First-round leader Rozner shot a rollercoaster 74 as Lorenzo Vera fired a best of the day 65 as he seeks his maiden DP World Tour win.
At the LIV Golf Singapore event, not even a two-and-a-half-hour weather delay appeared to bother last week’s Adelaide winner Talor Gooch as he shot a bogey-free seven-under 64 to lead a star-studded leaderboard by a shot from Sergio Garcia, Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith and Cameron Tringale with Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and Louis Oosthuizen two shots back.
Graeme McDowell’s 74 left him tied 46th in the 48-man field and his Cleeks team at the bottom of the leaderboard.
Ranked 59th in the world, Gooch confirmed he received an invitation this week to play next month’s US PGA but he’s disappointed he is not exempt for the US Open after a change to the criteria.
"It was really cool when the Masters came out and announced their field and recognised that I had qualified for the TOUR Championship and that they said, hey, you're top 50 in the world and you qualify for the TOUR Championship, those are both how you got into the field,” he said.
"Then the R&A came out and same thing, you qualified for the TOUR Championship; same thing, we're going to recognise that and give you a spot in the field.
"I was hopeful that the USGA would fall in line and do the same thing, but they decided to go a different route, and they kind of tweaked their criteria for that, so I wasn't able to get a spot in the field via qualifying for the TOUR Championship.
"It was cool today, though, this morning waking up and seeing an invite from the PGA of America for the PGA Championship.
"It's going to be a fun week, and yeah, it's cool that they recognise the body of work and gave me a spot in the field."
Finau leads in Mexico
At the PGA Tour's Mexico Open at Vidanta, Tony Finau's seven-under 64 gave him a one-shot lead on 13-under over South Africa's Erik nan Rooyen, who shot 66, and Brandon Wu, who fired a 64.
Jon Rahm made an eagle, five birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey in a three under 68 to lurk six shots off the pace in a tie for 12th on seven-under.
Leona and Stephanie cut In LA
On the LPGA Tour, Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow missed the cut in the JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club.
Maguire six bogeys and a double in a five-over 76 to miss on eight-over while Meadow also had a disappointing day and added a 77 to her opening 70 to miss the one-over cut by four strokes.
