Grant Forrest was soaring into a share of second with a late round eagle on day two of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Mt. Juliet near Kilkenny.
Forrest, 28, brilliantly eagled the 14th and then birdied the 17th in a day two five-under par 67 to move into a share for second at 11-under par with England’s Andy Sullivan (66).
Aussie Lucas Herbert continues to lead the way around the Jack Nicklaus-designed parkland layout adding a 67 to his opening 64 to move two clear of the field on 13-under par.
Twenty-six years ago, Sam Torrance had the Irish crowd roaring with delight in capturing the 1995 Murphy’s Irish Open. Torrance had been presented with the gleaming Waterford Crystal trophy and was then handed a full pint of Murphy’s Irish Stout.
Torrance downed the pint without ease and in raising the empty pint glass, the wily Scot drew twice the praise than moments earlier in raising his newest trophy.
Forrest still has two rounds to play before matching Torrance’s effort but being out in the fourth last group of the day, the former Crail Battle Trophy winner took full advantage of the colder and windier conditions in a round that included an eagle, five birdies and only two bogeys.
He said: “I’m delighted with my score. I had to work a little harder and to eagle 14 and then to birdie 17 was a great way to finish.
Grant Forrest sharing second place after two rounds of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open. (Photograph – European Tour)
“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. Also, I was on the putting green ahead of tee-off and I sent my caddy to get a jumper as it was like someone turned the heat off.”
The leading four, and including fourth place in England’s Dale Whitnell (67 & 67) on 10-under are currently not exempt into next fortnight’s Open Championship and with the leading three, and not otherwise exempt, to earn a Royal St. George’s tee time.
Forrest, who played in the 2013 and 2018 Open, said: “All I can do is just one shot at a time. It’s quite a scorable golf course but at the same time, if you short-side yourself, you’re going to have a tough time making par.
“There’s bogeys waiting around the corner, but yeah, I think we’ll just stay patient and stick to the game plan we’ve had the first two days.”
Richie Ramsay is the next best Scot and just three back of Forrest and just inside the top-10 on eight-under par with scores of 67 and 69.
And Ramsay is looking now also to make the most of the last two rounds and will draw upon his experience in travelling to Ireland since his teenage years and with team success in helping Scotland win the 2004 European Youths Amateur Team Championship at The Island club near Dublin and a year later enjoying individual success in the 2005 Irish Amateur title at Carton House.
Four years ago, in the Irish Open at Portstewart Ramsay was joint runner-up to now reigning US Open Jon Rahn.
Ramsay said: “I’ve always played some of my best golf in Ireland.
“I remember stopping at a petrol station once, and this little kid is like, “There’s Richie Ramsay.” And I’m like, how does this like — they all know that they know the players and they know where they are from, and they know if they are a Callaway or a TaylorMade player and they know their rank and stuff like that.
“They love it, they absolutely love it, and the whole villages around it seem to get involved in it. It’s obviously a great place to play golf”.
Aberdonian David Law birdied three of his closing five holes in a 66 to make the cut by two shots at five-under par.
Connor Syme (69 & 71) is at four-under and with the Tartan trio of Marc Warren (71 & 70) and Scott Jamieson (68 & 73) into the weekend on three-under.
