Tour round-up: Mullarney peaking in Alps; Harrington contending in Mexico

Giovanni Manzoni leads the 2025 Ein Bay Open. Photo Credits: Alps Tour Golf / Raffaele Canepa

DP World Tour

Portmarnock’s Conor Purcell and Ballymena’s Dermot McElroy struggled in the first round of the Magical Kenya Open in Nairobi.

Starting on the back nine at Muthaiga Golf Club, Purcell birdied the 18th to turn in one-under but came home in 40, with most of the damage caused by a double bogey six at the eighth en route to a three-over 74 that left him 113th.

McElroy went out in 43 after a crippling quadruple bogey nine at the fourth and while he played the back nine in two-under, his 76 left him six shots outside the projected cut line on a day of low scoring.

England’s John Parry and France’s Benjamin Hebert posted bogey-free, eight-under 63s to lead by a shot from South Africa’s Jayden Schaper.

PGA Tour

Pádraig Harrington overcame a short miss that led to a double-bogey at the 10th and birdied four of his last eight holes to move into contention in the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld.

Bidding to become the oldest winner on the PGA Tour, the Dubliner (53) made three birdies and a bogey in his first seven holes to move up the leaderboard in Vallarta.

A double bogey six at the 10th, where he three-putted from four feet, missing a two-and-a-half footer for bogey, looked to have taken all the wind out of his sails.

But he stormed back to card a three under 68, rapping in birdies at the 11th, 14th, 15th, and 18th against a lone bogey at the 17th to end the day tied for 31st, just four shots off the lead.

Norway’s Kris Ventura, England’s Harry Hall and Germany’s Jeremy Paul carded seven-under 64s to lead by a shot from a five-man chasing group featuring South African Aldrich Potgieter, Argentina’s Alejandro Tosti and American trio Isaiah Salinda, Patrick Fisburn and Brian Campbell.

“68 for 3 under, 4 behind, a few uncharacteristic short misses on the greens,” Harrington said on X after a round where he has just 27 putts but missed three times inside five feet — twice at the 10th and again at the 17th, where he was bunkered and couldn’t convert for par.

Harrington ranked 25th for driving distance, but he will be looking to improve his strike rate on the greens after those short misses caused him to lose half a shot to the field in the Strokes Gained Putting category.

Alps Tour

Ronan Mullarney shot a three-under 69 to go into the final round of the Alps Tour’s Ein Bay Open just five shots behind Italy’s Giovanni Manzoni.

He was tied for 11th on seven under in Egypt with Royal Dublin’s Hugh Foley 18th in six under after a 70, Robert Moran tied 20th on five under after a 71 and John Murphy tied 27th on four under after making eight birdies in a 66.

The cut fell at three-under par, which meant that Marc Boucher missed out by seven shots on four-over after rounds of 75 and 73.

LPGA Tour - Sunshine Ladies Tour

In the Honda LPGA Thailand, Leona Maguire rediscovered her putting touch and made five birdies in a four-under 68 to get to two-under par.

However, she was tied for 38th in the 72-strong field, 13 shots behind Japanese rookie Akie Iwai, who followed her course record 62 with a 67 to lead by two shots on 15-under from Angela Yin, who shot 64.

World number two Jeeno Thitikul (64) and fellow Thai Moriya Jutanugam (66) where a shot further back.

In the Standard Bank Ladies Open on the Sunshine Ladies Tour, Olivia Mehaffey’s four over 76 left her 59th, 12 shots behind France’s Lucie Malchirand while Abigail O'Riordan shot 77.

In Australia, Northern Ireland’s Victoria Craig was 142nd after rounds of 82 and 81 in the Webex Players Series Sydney.