For the second successive day Irish golfer Keith Egan dominated the leaderboard at the 54-hole Abu Dhabi Amateur Golf Championship.
Egan shot a 72 for a 36-hole total of four under par 140 at Saadiyat Beach Golf Club, Abu Dhabi.
The Irishman had a one shot lead overnight and opened up strongly with three straight birdies from the 1st tee to be out in 33.
A four bogey back-nine ended with a birdie on the home hole to help him keep his narrow lead over Victor Pena Cortes (Spain) and Thomas Schmidt (Germ) who were in tied second place on 141. Both golfers returned identical rounds of 71 – 70.
The leading local player was Simon Dunn, representing Tower Links Golf Club, who was in seventh place with rounds of 71 and 73.
The event is qualifier number six on the 2023 – 24 Emirates Golf Federation (EGF) Men’s Order of Merit.
The winner of this week’s tournament will receive an invite for the Challenge Tour’s Saadiyat Beach tournament in April, 2024.
Daniel Richards, Golf Services Manager, Abu Dhabi VIYA Cluster, told Khaleej Times: “We have had another day of good golf from the competitors in round two. The best score on day two was from Stefan Rojas from Luxembourg with a 68 – with the next best 70’s.
“We have seven players on par or better, battling it out for both the silverware as well as the prestigious Challenge Tour spot. With 10 players all within five shots of the leader it should be an exciting final round.”
Leading Second Round Scores (Par 72).
K. Egan (Ire) 68. 72. 140.
V. Pena Cortes (Spain) 71. 70. 141.
T. Schmidt (Ger) 71. 70 141.
S. Mukherjee (Scot) 73. 70. 143.
C. J. Mukherjee (Scot) 69. 74. 143.
Z. Chegwidden (Eng) 72. 71. 143.
S. Dunn (Tower Links GC) 71. 73. 144.
P. Curry (Yas Links Abu Dhabi) 73. 72. 145.
S. Rojas (Lux) 77. 68. 145.
N. Seldon (Dubai Creek) 70. 75. 145.