GARY HURLEY AND Tom McKibbin are both in top 25 positions after the second round of the Mauritius Open on the DP World Tour.
Waterford native Hurley improved his position with a second round 68 moving him to four-under for the tournament after his opening round of level-par 72.
Hurley began his round on the 10th and exploded to life with five birdies on his front nine, picking up shots on the 10th, 12th, 15th, 17th and 18th holes.
He dropped back with bogeys on the 2nd and 4th, recovered with further birdies on the 5th and 7th, before another dropped shot on the 8th means he had to settle for a position on four-under.
That leaves him in a tie for 15th, six shots behind the leading trio Sami Valimaki, Alfredo Garcia-Heredia and Antoine Rozner, all on 10-under.
McKibbin is a shot behind Hurley on three-under as his bright start to life on the DP World Tour continues.
The 19-year-old followed up yesterday’s two-under 70 with a round of 71 today. He began by dropping shots on the 2nd and 4th, but recovered excellently with birdies on the 5th, 7th and 8th.
He was level par for his back nine, recording two bogeys and two birdies in that spell. The Down native is in a tie for 21st going into the weekend.
Unfortunately it was a day to forget for Cork’s John Murphy as he missed the cut after a nightmare second round of 12-over 84.
The Kinsale golfer shot two-under 70 yesterday and was one-over for his front nine today, with two birdies and three bogeys in that period.
But his form unravelled badly between the 1st and 6th holes, recording three bogeys, a double bogey, a triple bogey and a quadruple bogey.
