Niall Kearney is the only Irishman to make the weekend rounds at the Cazoo Open, held at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, after managing a score of one-over-par in the first two rounds.
Kearney shot even on Thursday and did enough to stay below the cut on Friday and ensure himself two more rounds of golf.
He proved that he is deservedly the highest-ranked Irish golfer competing this weekend.
The two-time Irish PGA Championship winner is far from the lead at the Cazoo Open but has given himself a chance to lower his scores and end the weekend on a positive note.
The 71-par course claimed many casualties at the end of Round 2 on Friday.
The latest leg of the European tour has proved tough for Irish golfers with the three other Irish competitors and a Nothern Irish golfer all failing to make the cut in the tournament backed by Gareth Bale.
Gavin Moynihan endured a torrid second round to send himself home after a poor two rounds.
Moynihan shot three-over-par to add to his woes from Round 1 which saw him in need of a much-improved Friday to get to the next two rounds, but that was not to be as he posted a worse round to miss the cut by two strokes.
Amateur golfer James Sugrue’s two rounds followed a similar pattern to that of Moynihan’s with the pair both finishing Round 1 with a score of 73.
Sugrue could not salvage his weekend and plummeted further down the leaderboard with a 75-score round sealing the Mallow native’s fate with a final score of six-over.
Northern Ireland’s Cormac Sharvin also had a troublesome four-over-par round (For Sharvin it was Round 1) but posted a slight, if ineffective improvement in Round 2, ending his time in Newport with a round of 74.
Paul Dunne, who is currently 70th in the 2021 European Tour rankings had the worst weekend out of all Irish and Northern Irish golfers.
Dunne made it five missed cuts in a row after a six-over-par round two saw his hopes for extra rounds of golf go up in flames.
The poor performances are disappointing for fans from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland but, with Kearney still playing, there will be hopes for a good weekend from the Dubliner.
Niall Kearney will tee-off on Saturday at 6:16 am on Tee 11, accompanied by Bryce Easton and Steven Brown.
