Mark Power is hoping the wind increases during the afternoon at the Irish Challenge after he moved from the cut mark and into the mix at the K Club South Course.
Having double bogeyed the par-3 2nd, his 11th, with a four-putt where the wind blew his ball off course, Power rallied with a strong finish for the second successive day with birdies on the third, fourth and seventh holes for a 71 to follow up an opening 69 where he finished with three birdies in his last four holes.
Power was on the cut mark at one-under but is now inside the top-20 on four-under and four shots off the clubhouse lead heading into the weekend.
“Got off to a nice start yesterday with a three-under, finished two under for my last three so was a slow enough round and finished nicely, then got out this morning and conditions were considerably different and ground it out well and finished with a birdie on the par-5 7th so I was happy,” said the Kilkenny man.
Power came off the golf course on both days with a spring in his step and he has been pleased with how much he has managed to get out of his game so far.
The 24-year-old is embarking on his first full season as a professional on the Challenge Tour and he hopes the leaders don’t venture too far over the horizon as he looks to emulate what Conor Purcell did at last week’s NI Open.
“The worst thing you can do is come off after a round and feel like you left something out there. To be honest for me this year I felt like after every round I could have been one or two better but this week I can have no complaints I feel like I got the best out of my score so maybe play a bit better and do what Conor (Purcell) did last week.”