The two overnight leaders at the Alps de Las Castillas, amateur players, Legendre and Boneta backed up their remarkable opening rounds to keep daylight between them and third spot Steinlechner. Another low scoring day meant a brutal cut of four-under par sees three of the Irish make it aboard for Saturday while Marc Boucher and Brandon St. John miss out.
Micheal Young tops the Irish contenders heading into the final round with his second under-par day of 71 backing up his impressive five-under 67 on Thursday to sit tied for 25th spot on six under. Young started brightly from the 10th with a pair of birdies to kick off his day. Another on 18 would come but two dropped shots on both par-3s, the 12th and 15th saw him turn on one-under for the day. He would trade two more back and forth with Golf Lerma on his back nine including a birdie on the par-5 8th leaving Young in good shape for a decent final day.
Paul McBride sits one back on five under after a solid round of his own. Again, starting off the 10th McBride’s only blemish was a double on the par-4 16th, but he bookended his outward nine with a pair of birdies to recover the damage and turn on par. A fine homeward nine was to follow as he made his way back bogey free and with three more birdies to his name coming on both par-5s, the first and eighth and again on the fourth. Good progress on day two for McBride which, if he can replicate tomorrow, puts him in contention for a decent haul of ranking points.
Robert Moran had a tougher day with a one over 73 but his good work done on Thursday was enough to see the Castle GC man safely into the final day, just. Three bogeys and a pair of birdies for Moran on day two with one eye on the top five OOM spots. He currently sits eighth with the top five claiming Challenge Tour spots for ’25.
It wasn’t to be for Marc Boucher despite a good day coming in for 70 and three-under for the tournament. The Carton House man missed the cut by a single stroke on a score that another week would have seen him around for the final day fireworks but the hot scoring field this week means the 27-year-old departs early. A tough day too for St. John who couldn’t get his second-round firing. A disappointing 75 for the young man who finishes on two over and too hits the showers early.
A single stroke separates our leading pair of in form amateurs at the top. It looked all afternoon that we were facing another deadlock at the top between Nathan Legendre and Albert Boneta before the latter finally got his nose in front to lead by one on -18. A 67 for Legendre only pipped by the Spaniard’s 66 in a second fine display from these two young men. Just two bogeys between them on Friday show just how well the top two are performing. Austria’s Steinlechner again went low with a 66 of his own to hold solo third on -14. The top three will go toe-to-toe in the final grouping on Saturday at 9.58 in a mouthwatering finale.