Dec 21,2024
Waterford's Gary Hurley is six adrift at the midway point in the Mauritius Open, with Eddie Pepperel and Hamish Brown jointly holding the lead heading into the weekend.
Hovering around the expected cut mark at the beginning of the day, Hurley recorded an eagle and five birdies, with just two dropped strokes, to climb to two-under par for the tournament, leaving him tied-26th.
However, Portmarnock's Conor Purcell will not be teeing off on Saturday, posting a second round 71 to finish at five-over par overall.
Purcell, a two-time winner of the Challenge Tour this year, including at the Northern Ireland Open in Galgorm in July, began the day on six-over par after a difficult opening round marred by five straight bogeys between the 13th and 17th.
The Dubliner improved considerably on Friday, his round decorated by an eagle at the par-5 18th but his one-under par round wasn't sufficient to maintain his involvement, and he wound up four strokes shy of the projected cut mark.
FULL LEADERBOARD
England's Pepperell, who is looking to regain his playing privileges after missing out on a card by one shot at DP World Tour Qualifying School last month, posted a second-round 70 on Friday to reach eight under par.
Heading into the weekend alongside Pepperell at the top of the leaderboard is rookie Brown after he made five birdies and a single bogey in his second successive 68.
Jacob Skov Olesen and Christo Lamprecht sit one shot off the lead in a tie for third.
Pepperell feels the hard work he has been putting in is paying off.
He said: "I do think what I’m working on the last couple of days with my swing has certainly got legs.
"Let’s hope it’s got weekend legs on. I think it’s pretty good and I’ve just got to keep doing it."
