Paul Dunne
Paul Dunne bounced back from a double bogey at his penultimate hole with a birdie at the last to move inside the all-important top 35 after the opening round of the Final Stage of the Asian Tour Q-School in Thailand.
The Greystones star carded a three-under 68 on the A and B layout at Lake View Resort and Golf Course in Hua Hin to share 27th place in the race for just 35 cards after five rounds.
The Wicklow man (32) has been battling to get back to form after suffering a hand injury and losing his DP World Tour card in 2019.
The 2017 British Masters champion has virtually no status on the DP World Tour or the Challenge Tour, but he’s given himself a chance to earn an Asian Tour card after coming through pre-qualifying last week.
There are 240 players battling for just 35 cards in Thailand, and Dunne will begin round two inside the magic number after a solid opening effort.
Starting on the 10th, he birdied the par-five 15th, second and fifth holes on the A and B nines at Lake View today before getting to four under with a birdie three at the seventh.
But while he ran up a double bogey five at the short eighth, he birdied the ninth to shoot 68 and end the day tied for 27th.
He’s just five shots behind Korea’s Kyungnam Kang and India’s Ajeetesh Sandhu, who fired an eight-under 63s on the A and B nines to head the field by a shot from Sean Ramos from the Philippines.
Royal Dublin’s Niall Kearney has work to do to move inside the card places after signing for a level par 71 on the C and D layout.
Kearney followed bogeys at the first and second with birdies at the fifth and eighth to turn in level par.
The Dubliner (36) bogeyed the 13th but eagled the par-five 15th to get to one under before dropping a shot at the par-five 17th.
His 71 left him tied for 87th, two shots inside the top 140 who will make the 36-hole cut on Wednesday.
There will be a 72-hole cut to the top 70 and ties before the fifth and final round battle for 35 cards.
To add to the difficulty of the test, there will be a hole-by-hole playoff to decide any ties for 35th place.