From Legends Tour
Keith Horne extended his lead at the OFX Irish Legends with a hard-fought second-round 68 that took him to 11-under, three shots clear of former Open champion Paul Lawrie and Legends Tour Order of Merit leader Scott Hend heading into Saturday’s final round.
A trio of tour winners – Peter Baker, Jeev Milkha Singh and Mikael Lundberg – are tied for fourth, one further back at seven-under, after a testing day in Kilkenny.
Despite the tricky conditions at Mount Juliet, the South African once again capitalised on the par-fives. Having made two eagles and a birdie on day one, he birdied all four on Friday in a battling four-under-par round that established a commanding position with 18 holes left to play.
“I’m very happy with my score today, I’ll definitely take a 68,” said Horne. “It was a lot tougher today, the wind was swirling and I really struggled to figure it out. It was with you one second and straight into the next. My game today was pretty much the opposite of yesterday, I really struggled out there but managed to just piece it together. I just tried to stay patient and my putter saved me.
“I also managed to once again take advantage of the par-fives, managed to birdie all of them and that kind of keeps you in it. We can reach all of them comfortably because the fairways are running, so you always feel like you can pick up shots.”
Having won the Zambia Legends in 2024 after building a three-shot lead going into the final round, the South African hopes that a comparable approach on day three in Ireland will yield a similar result.
“It is similar to Zambia as I pushed on early there, although there were a lot more birdies to be had in the early holes,” Horne said. “I’m just looking for a solid start to make sure that I put myself in a solid position going into the back nine tomorrow. It’s really nice to have a lead but if you go out there trying to keep it you’re going to get in trouble. There’s a lot of holes where you can get into trouble, so I’m just going to try and make as many birdies as I can again, get off to a solid start and take it from there.”
James Kingston had a second round of level-par 72 to head into the final round in seventh place in six-under, and Adilson Da Silva was on five-under in a share of eighth together with rookie Darren Fichardt after each had a second round of two-under-par 70.
