Tom McKibbin fought back from a slow start only to undo his good work with an untidy finish in the Estrella Damm Andalucia Masters in Spain.
The Holywood ace is on the home stretch in his bid to secure one of 10 PGA Tour cards for next season. But after opening with a five-under 67, he followed up with a 73 at Real Club de Golf Sotogrande to trail Spain’s Jorge Campillo by 11 strokes at halfway.
The Newtownabbey native fought back from bogeys at the first two holes with birdies at the fifth, sixth and 14th, only to make back-to-back bogeys at the 16th and 17th and slip to tied for 35th on four-under.
Campillo, in contrast, made an eagle and five birdies in a 65 to storm four shots clear of England’s Dan Brown on 15-under as first-round leader Julien Guerrier shot 72 to trail by five alongside Scott Jamieson and Jordan Smith.
“I’ve been putting the ball in play off the tee, hitting my irons great and then making the short putts. Last year at the KLM Open, I was in this position after 36 holes and ended up finishing 29th,” Campillo (38) said. “So I know there is a lot of golf left to play, and I don’t know what’s going to happen over the weekend.”
He has a weather eye open for compatriots Jon Rahm and Angel Hidalgo, who fired six-under 66s in breezy afternoon conditions to get within seven shots of him on eight-under.
“It was a really good round of golf,” Rahm said after a closing three-putt bogey. “I was solid off the tee and gave myself a lot of chances and my iron game was great. I rolled in a couple of nice putts, and it was a shame to drop a shot on the last hole.
“I need to keep making birdies tomorrow, and you have to go low here whether it’s windy or not. Hopefully, I can repeat today’s round and maybe go even lower.”
Campillo knows LIV star Rahm remains the overwhelming favourite, but he’d love to follow in Spanish Open champion Hidalgo’s footsteps by lifting his fourth DP World Tour title on home soil having claimed his first three titles in Morocco, Qatar and Kenya.
“Still a lot to go, but it would be nice to win in your home country,” he said in the commentary box.
It was also a good day for Portmarnock’s Conor Purcell as he continues his bid for a DP World Tour card at the Challenge Tour’s Hangzhou Open.
After opening with a 63 to claim the first-round lead at West Lake International, he mixed four birdies with two bogeys in a two-under 69 to trail England’s Ben Schmidt and new Chinese star Wenyi Ding (19) by just one shot on 10-under.
Schmidt picked up three shots in his closing three holes to tie with Ding, who is making his professional debut this week after topping the Global Amateur Pathway Ranking to claim his DP World Tour card. The Chinese star, who impressed Irish fans in the Arnold Palmer Cup at Lahinch this summer, backed up his opening 66 with a six-under 65 to set the pace on 11-under.
Purcell, 12th in the race for 20 DP World Tour cards, shares third place alongside Norwegian Kristoffer Reitan. However, Clandeboye’s Jonny Caldwell and West Waterford’s Gary Hurley missed the two-under-par cut.
Caldwell finished on five-over after a 75, while Hurley’s 81 left him on 10-over.
Meanwhile, Castle’s Robert Moran finished 12th in the final Alps Tour Order of Merit after the Grand Final was reduced to 36 holes due to bad weather.
Moran needed to win at Golf Club Monticello to make the top five who won Challenge Tour cards but finished six shots behind Italy’s Enrico Di Nitto, tied for 11th, after a brace of 71s.
Di Nitto joined France’s Benjamin Kedochim and Damien Perrier, American Brandon Kewalramani and the Netherlands’ Vince van Veen in securing a Challenge Tour card.
BMW Ladies C’ship, 6.0am
Andalucia Masters, 12.30pm
Shriners Children’s Open, 10.0pm
(All live on Sky Sports)