| The 25-year-old started the day with a one-stroke advantage over the field but a five under second round, which included eight birdies, moved him to a 13 under total and doubled his lead as he bids to become just the third player from Australia to win the island of Ireland’s national open.
In a share of second place were Englishman Andy Sullivan, after the 2016 Ryder Cup player shot a six under 66, and Scot Grant Forrest who signed for a 67. Four-time European Tour winner Sullivan finished in a tie for second in his last appearance at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open in 2019 and he will be looking to go one better in Kilkenny.
Forrest is another player hoping to feed off the memories of the 2019 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Lahinch Golf Club – the 2018 Challenge Tour graduate played alongside Robert Rock on day three as he came within a shot of a 59, before being drawn in the final round with Jon Rahm as the Spaniard fired a scorching 62 to soar to a famous victory in front of sell-out crowds.
It was a better day for the home favourites at Mount Juliet as four-time Major winner Rory McIlroy shot an impressive 67 to move to a five under total, where he was later joined by The Open Champion Shane Lowry who made a late charge to move from outside the cut line to within eight strokes of the lead with two rounds still to play.
Player quotes:
Lucas Herbert: “It was a little frustrating but also felt like I did pretty well to scrap 67 out of that. Yeah, I holed some really nice putts and missed some that I thought were good chances to make; obviously the double on three.”For a round that hopefully is not the better one of the week, I felt like I did really well to get a lot out of it and put myself into a very good position going into the weekend.
“I think it’s definitely something that comes with a win where you know you’ve proved to yourself that you can win, you can hit shots under pressure and actually win. So I’ll be taking a lot of experience from that into the weekend and try and draw on that confidence, as well.”
Andy Sullivan: “I’m feeling a lot better about my long game today. Yesterday was a struggle off the tee. Couldn’t find too many fairways. Yesterday was a surprise but more of a relief, really, how I played and today was back to how I normally play, a lot more fairways, a lot more greens.
“It was good, really good. Holed some really good putts. The putter is feeling good. It felt good last week and it’s rolled into this week.
“Every time I’ve played in Ireland, fans have always been fantastic and have given my a great reception. It does definitely get your adrenaline going and the buzz about the place. You always enjoy a witty laugh from the Irish crowds.”
Grant Forrest: “I’m delighted. It’s always tough to follow up a pretty good first round. I stayed really patient out there and probably wasn’t quite as good off the tee today. So I have to work a little bit harder for the score.
“I can’t wait for tomorrow. It’s been a while. I’ve got great memories from the Irish Open at Lahinch two years ago playing with Rocky when he shot 60 on Saturday, and then played with Jon Rahm on the final day when he shot a low one to win. Won’t be quite as mental as that but I’m looking forward to it.”
Rory McIlroy: “I got off to a better start and then once you do that, you make a couple of birdies early, you start to feel like you can make a few more. The greens were much better this morning than they were yesterday afternoon, as well. It felt a little easier to hole putts. And that’s really what I did. Everything was just a little bit better today and sort of added up to a better score.
“It could have been a little better than what it was playing the two par fives at even par on the front nine. Missed a couple of chances, too. But it was better.”
Shane Lowry: ” I’m pretty happy. It’s no fun at all playing golf on the cut mark, especially in your home tournament where you’re trying so desperately hard to do well and obviously a lot of people supporting me and familiar faces in the crowd, so trying to play good golf for them as well as myself.
“It was a bit of a struggle today. I got off to a great start and let it slip in the middle of the round. Two-under through four out here, you’re really off and running because you’ve got three par fives in the next six holes. Then I played those next six holes in two-over. It was tough but I battled well and showed some resilience and some good, hard, grinding out there. So I’m pretty proud of myself the way I played. To finish like that was pretty good.”
Round Two Scores:
131 L HERBERT (AUS) 64 67,
133 A SULLIVAN (ENG) 67 66, G FORREST (SCO) 66 67,
134 D WHITNELL (ENG) 67 67,
135 C BEZUIDENHOUT (RSA) 67 68, R BLAND (ENG) 69 66, J VEERMAN (USA) 65 70, A OTAEGUI (ESP) 69 66,
136 M ARMITAGE (ENG) 68 68, J SCRIVENER (AUS) 67 69, M LEE (AUS) 68 68, J GUERRIER (FRA) 68 68, R RAMSAY (SCO) 67 69, A ROZNER (FRA) 68 68, A ARNAUS (ESP) 67 69, G HAVRET (FRA) 67 69,
137 J CATLIN (USA) 69 68, S BROWN (ENG) 68 69, A JOHNSTON (ENG) 67 70, M KAYMER (GER) 67 70, F LAPORTA (ITA) 68 69, S CROCKER (USA) 67 70,
138 A COCKERILL (CAN) 68 70, J WINTHER (DEN) 70 68, M KIEFFER (GER) 71 67, D HOWELL (ENG) 71 67, A BJ?RK (SWE) 72 66, R KARLBERG (SWE) 71 67, O FARR (WAL) 72 66, J MORRISON (ENG) 70 68, J SMITH (ENG) 69 69, W BESSELING (NED) 69 69, M JORDAN (ENG) 69 69,
139 R MCILROY (NIR) 72 67, T FLEETWOOD (ENG) 67 72, T PIETERS (BEL) 70 69, C PAISLEY (ENG) 68 71, G BHULLAR (IND) 71 68, B HEBERT (FRA) 70 69, T KANAYA (JPN) 71 68, S LOWRY (IRL) 70 69, J HARDING (RSA) 69 70, D LAW (SCO) 73 66,
140 S KIM (USA) 72 68, V NORRMAN (SWE) 68 72, G PORTEOUS (ENG) 70 70, J WALTERS (RSA) 69 71, K APHIBARNRAT (THA) 68 72, Z LOMBARD (RSA) 69 71, A RAI (ENG) 69 71, N COLSAERTS (BEL) 67 73, J SENIOR (ENG) 72 68, F ZANOTTI (PAR) 68 72, R JACQUELIN (FRA) 70 70, C SHARVIN (NIR) 73 67, D VAN DRIEL (NED) 72 68, C SYME (SCO) 69 71,
141 D FICHARDT (RSA) 73 68, G MCDOWELL (NIR) 74 67, P LARRAZ?BAL (ESP) 69 72, R H?JGAARD (DEN) 70 71, S JAMIESON (SCO) 68 73, K KITAYAMA (USA) 69 72, M ANTCLIFF (AUS) 69 72, D COUPLAND (ENG) 73 68, M WARREN (SCO) 71 70, A LEVY (FRA) 68 73, S SHARMA (IND) 74 67, T TREE (ENG) 72 69,
CUT
142 D BURMESTER (RSA) 73 69, N BERTASIO (ITA) 74 68, R ROCK (ENG) 68 74, G COETZEE (RSA) 71 71, K SAMOOJA (FIN) 68 74, C WOOD (ENG) 70 72, C MORIARTY (IRL) 68 74, E MOLINARI (ITA) 69 73, A SADDIER (FRA) 70 72, D VAN TONDER (RSA) 73 69, J JANEWATTANANOND (THA) 72 70, T DETRY (BEL) 67 75, J HANSEN (DEN) 69 73, R MCEVOY (ENG) 69 73, M KORHONEN (FIN) 69 73,
143 A CA?IZARES (ESP) 73 70, N KEARNEY (IRL) 71 72, O WILSON (ENG) 73 70, G MOYNIHAN (IRL) 75 68, R LANGASQUE (FRA) 71 72, R MCGOWAN (ENG) 72 71, J CAMPILLO (ESP) 72 71, M KINHULT (SWE) 68 75, T OLESEN (DEN) 67 76, C HILL (SCO) 72 71, M KAWAMURA (JPN) 68 75, R FISHER (ENG) 70 73, W ORMSBY (AUS) 71 72,
144 O FISHER (ENG) 75 69, R PARATORE (ITA) 71 73, E PEPPERELL (ENG) 74 70, S GARCIA RODRIGUEZ (ESP) 67 77, P WARING (ENG) 73 71, R ROUSSEL (FRA) 74 70, N LEMKE (SWE) 70 74, S KJELDSEN (DEN) 72 72, L CANTER (ENG) 72 72, M LORENZO-VERA (FRA) 70 74, J SURI (USA) 72 72, B POKE (DEN) 71 73, T PULKKANEN (FIN) 69 75,
145 M PAVON (FRA) 71 74, S SODERBERG (SWE) 71 74, C PIGEM (ESP) 73 72, N ELVIRA (ESP) 70 75, P FIGUEIREDO (POR) 71 74, M POWER (AM) (IRL) 73 72, J DONALDSON (WAL) 69 76, A CHESTERS (ENG) 76 69, J CALDWELL (NIR) 76 69, P DUNNE (IRL) 72 73,
146 D HORSEY (ENG) 74 72, S V?LIM?KI (FIN) 75 71, S GALLACHER (SCO) 73 73, J LAGERGREN (SWE) 70 76, J LUITEN (NED) 74 72, J STALTER (FRA) 72 74, A MERONK (POL) 73 73, R SCIOT-SIEGRIST (FRA) 73 73,
147 A QUIROS (ESP) 72 75, L VAN MEIJEL (NED) 76 71, D DRYSDALE (SCO) 71 76, P HARRINGTON (IRL) 76 71, R SANTOS (POR) 75 72, S NORRIS (RSA) 70 77,
148 C SHINKWIN (ENG) 77 71, L GAGLI (ITA) 74 74, L BJERREGAARD (DEN) 74 74, T AIKEN (RSA) 75 73,
149 B STONE (RSA) 78 71, H PORTEOUS (RSA) 72 77, R LESTER (IRL) 73 76, P HANSON (SWE) 72 77, J MCLEOD (AUS) 77 72, G STORM (ENG) 77 72,
150 W NIENABER (RSA) 78 72,
152 R FOX (NZL) 76 76, H LI (CHN) 76 76, G GREEN (MAS) 75 77, R DAWSON (IRL) 82 70,
153 S THORNTON (IRL) 77 76, S HEND (AUS) 75 78,
155 N O’BRIAIN (IRL) 78 77,
156 C RAFFERTY (AM) (IRL) 78 78, A PAVAN (ITA) 78 78,
**
OUT S HORSFIELD (ENG) 75 WD, |
