Gavin Moynihan surges into contention in Mauritius

Ireland’s Gavin Moynihan carded a much-needed round of 65 on day two of the Mauritius Open to sit just four shots off the lead in fifth place heading into the weekend.

The Dubliner made just one cut on his debut European Tour campaign last season but won his card back at Q-School. Fresh from that he has looked to make a quick start to the season and could well do so this week after making eight birdies and just one bogey on Friday in what were difficult afternoon conditions as the temperature dropped and the wind got up on the Indian Ocean island.

Starting on the 10th the 24-year-old started his move up the leaderboard early with birdies at the 12th,13th, 17th and 18th to make the turn in 32. And he didn’t let his foot off the gas with further birdies coming at the second, fourth, sixth and seventh before the Par 3 eighth – just like it had been on Thursday – proved to be his nemesis as he made his only bogey of the day.

That all added up to an impressive 65 and a total of 10 under par to trail leader Kurt Kitayama of the United States by four shots.

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The American, who also earned his European Tour card at Q-School earlier this month, carded nine birdies and a double bogey on Friday morning to set the clubhouse target at 14 under par.

And none of the afternoon starters were able to catch Kitayama, whose nearest challenger was first-round co-leader S Chikkarangappa following his second-round 68 to sit at 12 under.

The only other Irishman in the field – Niall Turner – missed the cut by a single shot after a second round 73.

Meanwhile, in Australia, Michael Hoey, Robin Dawson and Cormac Sharvin all missed the cut at the Australian PGA where defending champion Cameron Smith leads by one at nine under.

Collated second round scores & totals in the European Tour Afrasia Bank Mauritius Open at Anahita, Four Seasons GC Mauritius at Anahita, Beau Champ, Mauritius (Britain unless stated, Irish in bold, par 72):

130 Kurt Kitayama (USA) 65 65

132 S Chikkarangappa (Ind) 64 68

133 Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 67 66, Victor Perez (Fra) 64 69

134 Gavin Moynihan (Irl) 69 65

135 Trevor Fisher Jnr (Rsa) 69 66

136 Merrick Bremner (Rsa) 68 68, Justin Harding (Rsa) 67 69, Oliver Bekker (Rsa) 67 69, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 65 71, Lee Slattery 67 69

137 Max Schmitt (Ger) 71 66, Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 70 67, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 70 67

138 Adri Arnaus (Spa) 72 66, Malcolm Kokocinski (Swe) 67 71, Christofer Blomstrand (Swe) 70 68, Clement Sordet (Fra) 71 67, Yan-wei Liu (Chn) 71 67, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 67 71, Lionel Weber (Fra) 69 69, Antoine Rozner (Fra) 70 68, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 70 68, Jean Hugo (Rsa) 71 67

139 Alex Haindl (Rsa) 67 72, Ajeetesh Sandhu (Ind) 69 70, David Drysdale 69 70, Yi-Keun Chang (Kor) 71 68, Ernie Els (Rsa) 69 70, Keith Horne (Rsa) 68 71, Fabrizio Zanotti (Pry) 71 68, Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 71 68, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 69 70

140 Bowen Xiao (Chn) 73 67, Siddikur Rahman (Ban) 70 70, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 73 67, Jaco Ahlers (Rsa) 70 70, Berry Henson (USA) 69 71, Philip Eriksson (Swe) 68 72, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 65 75, Paul Peterson (USA) 68 72, Estiaan Conradie (Rsa) 70 70, Rourke Van Der Spuy (Rsa) 68 72, Jordan Smith 68 72, Gregory Havret (Fra) 72 68

141 Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 70 71, Tyrone Ryan (Rsa) 69 72, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 72 69, Grant Forrest 70 71, Stuart Manley 71 70, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 72 69, George Coetzee (Rsa) 69 72, Jack Harrison 71 70, Kim Koivu (Fin) 70 71, Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 71 70, Dawie Van Der Walt (Rsa) 72 69, Hyo-won Park (Kor) 68 73, Jeunghun Wang (Kor) 76 65

142 Udayan Mane (Ind) 70 72, Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 76 66, Hendrik Otto (Rsa) 74 68, Julien Brun (Fra) 70 72, Viraj Madappa (Ind) 68 74, Joel Girrbach (Swi) 70 72, Romain Langasque (Fra) 70 72

All players below missed the cut of 142

143 Toto Thimba Jnr (Rsa) 74 69, Guido Migliozzi (Spa) 73 70, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 75 68, Adrien Saddier (Fra) 71 72, Niall Turner (Irl) 70 73, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 76 67, Madalitso Muthiya (Zam) 71 72, James Kamte (Rsa) 72 71, Steve Surry 73 70, Bernd Ritthammer (Ger) 72 71, Ivan Cantero (Spa) 72 71, Travis Smyth (Aus) 68 75

144 Michael G Palmer (Rsa) 71 73, Steve Lewton 72 72, Oliver Wilson 73 71, Derick Petersen (Rsa) 72 72, Doug McGuigan 70 74, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 72 72, Aman Raj (Ind) 75 69, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 73 71, Hennie Du Plessis (Rsa) 72 72, Louis Ger Jager (Rsa) 73 71, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 72 72

145 Filippo Bergamaschi (Ita) 70 75, Khalin Joshi (Ind) 77 68, Jack Singh Brar 73 72, Rhys Enoch 72 73, Jake Roos (Rsa) 72 73, Matias Calderon (Chi) 74 71, Daniel Van Tonder (Rsa) 73 72, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 73 72, Casey O’Toole (USA) 73 72, JJ Senekal (Rsa) 73 72, Per Langfors (Swe) 74 71, Junya Kameshiro (Jpn) 72 73, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 72 73, Jens Dantorp (Swe) 69 76, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 71 74

146 Matthew Jordan 72 74, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 70 76, Christoffer Baumann (Swe) 75 71, Jarin Todd (USA) 72 74, Liam Johnston 73 73, Marcel Siem (Ger) 70 76, David Lipsky (USA) 74 72, John Catlin (USA) 70 76, Scott Gregory 71 75, Baejong Park (Kor) 71 75

147 Ben Evans 74 73, Settee Prakongvech (Tha) 75 72, Jesse Yap (Sgp) 70 77, Jared Harvey (Rsa) 75 72, Jean-Paul Strydom (Rsa) 72 75, Karandeep Kochhar (Ind) 72 75, MJ Viljoen (Rsa) 71 76, Marc Ong (Sgp) 71 76, Bryce Easton (Rsa) 74 73, Rhys West (Rsa) 75 72, Vaughn Groenewald (Rsa) 74 73

148 Ockie Strydom (Rsa) 71 77, Neil Schietekat (Rsa) 76 72, Keenan Davidse (Rsa) 75 73, Basil Wright (Rsa) 74 74, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 72 76, Jaco Prinsloo (Rsa) 77 71, Mitchell Slorach (Sgp) 72 76

149 Lyle Rowe (Rsa) 75 74, Justin Walters (Rsa) 75 74, Steven Lecuyer (Can) 76 73

150 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 70 80, Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 70 80, Shohei Hasegawa (Jpn) 78 72, Samarth Dwivedi (Ind) 76 74, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 76 74, Simon Griffiths 74 76, Paul Harris (USA) 75 75

151 Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa) 76 75, Abdul Hadi (Sgp) 78 73

153 Kristian Krogh Johannessen (Nor) 77 76, Carlos Pigem (Spa) 79 74, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 77 76

155 Ruan Ger Smidt (Rsa) 78 77

156 Khai Jie Low (Mal) 75 81

157 David Gleeson (Aus) 79 78, Espen Kofstad (Nor) 81 76, Andre Ger Decker (Rsa) 75 82

158 Pierre Pellegrin (Mus) 77 81

165 Adriel Poonan (Rsa) 85 80

Collated second round scores & totals in the European Tour Australian PGA Championship, RACV Royal Pines Resort, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia (Britain unless stated, Irish in bold, par 72):

135 Cameron Smith (Aus) 70 65

136 Jake McLeod (Aus) 66 70, Marc Leishman (Aus) 68 68

137 Matt Jager (Aus) 66 71, Christopher Wood (Aus) 71 66, Dimitrios Papadatos (Aus) 67 70

138 Harold Varner III (USA) 69 69

139 Andrew Johnston 70 69, Paul Hayden (Aus) 72 67, Anthony Quayle (Aus) 70 69, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 69 70, David Bransdon (Aus) 71 68

140 Mathew Goggin (Aus) 68 72, Robert Allenby (Aus) 70 70, Oliver Farr 71 69

141 Jason Scrivener (Aus) 68 73, Ben Eccles (Aus) 70 71, Jae-woong Eom (Kor) 67 74, Aaron Cockerill (Can) 72 69, Sam Brazel (Aus) 70 71

142 Matthew Millar (Aus) 72 70, Daniel Fox (Aus) 73 69, Rhein Gibson (Aus) 72 70, Aaron Wilkin (Aus) 73 69, Peter Cooke (Aus) 73 69, Daan Huizing (Ned) 73 69, Michael Wright (Aus) 72 70, Damien Jordan (Aus) 69 73, David McKenzie (Aus) 73 69, Harrison Endycott (Aus) 70 72, Douglas Klein (Aus) 68 74, Jarryd Felton (Aus) 69 73, Nick Taylor (Can) 74 68, Jordan Zunic (Aus) 70 72, Peter Senior (Aus) 72 70, Nick Flanagan (Aus) 69 73, Gareth Paddison (Nzl) 70 72, Tom Murray 69 73, Frazer Droop (Aus) 73 69, Troy Merritt (USA) 71 71

143 (a) Craig Ross 71 72, Ricardo Gouveia (Por) 69 74, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 69 74, Alex Edge (Aus) 73 70, Simon Hawkes (Aus) 70 73, Jonathan Thomson 72 71, Stephen Allan (Aus) 70 73, Renato Paratore (Ita) 73 70, Braden Becker (Aus) 70 73, Josh Geary (Nzl) 72 71, Blake Proverbs (Aus) 71 72, Matthew Stieger (Aus) 74 69, Rod Pampling (Aus) 74 69, Austin Connelly (Can) 72 71, Matthew Griffin (Aus) 72 71

144 Daniel Gale (Aus) 70 74, Max McCardle (Aus) 76 68, Zack Murrary (Aus) 70 74, Alexander Knappe (Ger) 70 74, Sean Crocker (USA) 73 71, Tim Stewart (Aus) 70 74, Ashley Hall (Aus) 70 74, Darren Beck (Aus) 73 71, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 69 75, Mark Brown (Nzl) 71 73, James Morrison 69 75, Jason Norris (Aus) 70 74, Ryan Evans 72 72, Hugues Joannes (Bel) 72 72, Jack Munro (Aus) 73 71, Ross McGowan 71 73

All players below missed the cut of 144

145 Aaron Townsend (Aus) 73 72, Matthew Nixon 72 73, Aaron Pike (Aus) 72 73, Steven Jeffress (Aus) 69 76, Cameron John (Aus) 70 75, Henric Sturehed (Swe) 72 73, Ruben Sondjaja (Aus) 72 73, Deyen Lawson (Aus) 76 69, Adam Bland (Aus) 70 75, Nathan Green (Aus) 73 72, Ben Clementson (Aus) 75 70, Jun-seok Lee (Aus) 73 72, Curtis Luck (Aus) 69 76, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 72 73, Adam Burdett (Aus) 73 72, Gavin Green (Mal) 71 74

146 David Smail (Nzl) 75 71, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 73 73, James Nitties (Aus) 74 72, Brad Moules (Aus) 70 76, Duncan Stewart 73 73, Josh Younger (Aus) 74 72, Dale Williamson (Aus) 71 75, Kevin Muir (USA) 73 73, Richard Green (Aus) 71 75, Ryan Lynch (Aus) 73 73, Minkyu Kim (Kor) 72 74, Yechun Yuan (Chn) 70 76, Aron Price (Aus) 69 77, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 68 78, Peter O’Malley (Aus) 73 73

147 Scott Laycock (Aus) 73 74, James Marchesani (USA) 74 73, Jake Higginbottom (Aus) 73 74, Michael Hendry (Nzl) 74 73, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 73 74, Cameron Davis (Aus) 75 72, Jordan Mullaney (Aus) 77 70

148 Zi-hao Chen (Chn) 73 75, Mitchell Brown (Aus) 73 75, Paul Maddy 70 78, Kieran Pratt (Aus) 74 74, Harry Ellis 74 74, Sam Lee (Fij) 73 75, Scott Hend (Aus) 76 72, Daniel Nisbet (Aus) 75 73, Tim Hart (Aus) 75 73, Robert Macintyre 74 74, Taylor MacDonald (Aus) 71 77, Ryan Chisnall (Nzl) 70 78, Adam Blyth (Aus) 70 78

149 David Boote 72 77, Nick Cullen (Aus) 76 73, Daniel Gavins 73 76, Lucas Herbert (Aus) 80 69, Rick Kulacz (Aus) 75 74, Anthony Marchesani (Aus) 76 73, Jack Senior 71 78, Ewan Ferguson 76 73

150 Mathew Perry (Nzl) 77 73, John Senden (Aus) 72 78, Matthew null Lisk (Aus) 75 75, Michael Hoey (NIrl) 78 72

151 Cormac Sharvin (NIrl) 78 73, Daniel Pearce (Nzl) 74 77, Chris Duke (Aus) 75 76

152 Dale Brandt-Richards (Aus) 76 76, Rory Bourke (Aus) 74 78, Marco Iten (Swi) 74 78, Jack Wilson (Aus) 77 75, Brett Rankin (Aus) 75 77, David Cooke (USA) 73 79

153 Matthew Guyatt (Aus) 76 77, Adam Stephens (Aus) 77 76, Connor Syme 77 76, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 80 73

154 James Anstiss (Aus) 76 78, Campbell Rawson (Aus) 76 78, George Twyman 77 77, Peter Wilson (Aus) 74 80, Cory Crawford (Aus) 76 78

155 Robin Dawson (Irl) 80 75

157 Clement Berardo (Fra) 80 77

168 Antonio Murdaca (Aus) 84 84