Kyron Sullivan remained in a one shot lead at the Madeira Island Open Caixa Geral de Depositos as the fog delayed second round was completed on Saturday morning. The Welshman posted a halfway total of ten under par 132 to lead England’s John Bickerton and Ireland’s David Higgins by a single stroke.
Higgins and Sullivan played together in the Friday morning matches, and posted respective second round scores of 66 and 72, while Bickerton completed his second round 69 on Saturday morning.
The Dutch pair of Robert –Jan Derksen and Rolf Muntz joined Sweden’s Magnus Persson Atlevi and New Zealand’s Stephen Scahill in a tie for fourth place on seven under par 137.
Higgins stormed to the turn in six under par 30 before play was suspended at Santo da Serra on Friday evening, with two runs of three consecutive birdies from the second to the fourth and then the seventh to the ninth. Higgins picked up another shot on the tenth to draw level with his Welsh playing partner on ten under par, after Sullivan had played the front nine in two under 34.
Both players then stuttered slightly on the back nine, with Sullivan picking up just one more shot on the 13th before both players bogeyed the 18th.
Higgins’s 66 was a continuation of the form that has taken him to fifth place on the current Challenge Tour Rankings after three top ten finishes from the seven Challenge Tour events that have been staged on the 2005 Schedule. The Irishman took third place at the season opening 47th Abierto Mexicano de Golf; second at the Abierto Telefonica Moviles de Guatemala and then tenth at the Tuskeer Kenya Open.
The 32 year old finished second on the Rankings after three Challenge Tour victories in 2000, and is confident that the form that took him to The European Tour five years ago is returning to his game.
“I holed a few nice putts on the front nine and then didn’t get anything on the back nine but I’m playing nice so it’s ok,” said Higgins after signing for a 66. “It was just the 18th where I came off my drive and hit a bad one because the rough down the right side is tough and I knew as soon as I hit it that it was going to end up there. You’ve got to hit it up the left side there and as a result I made bogey.
“I’ve been playing well for the last six or seven months so it’s nice to come here and keep it going because this is probably our biggest event of the year on the Challenge Tour so it’s good to keep it up. I’ve been coming back gradually since 2003, when I was still playing back home in Ireland. The events back home weren’t that big but I was still winning a lot and getting some positives from it and now it’s still going.
“I’m comfortable here, I like this course and I feel that I can do well here. I just have to be patient.”
Sullivan was the first to recognise Higgins’s excellent performance – if only for the reason that the Irishman was threatening to knock him off the top of the leaderboard. The 28 year old, who finished 19th on the 2004 Challenge Tour Rankings, seems to perform particularly well in the dual ranking events after leading the 2004 Aa St Omer Open after the first round and then taking third place at last year’s BMW Russian Open.
He said: “It wasn’t until we were really on the 11th that I realised that Dave was on the same score as me and I thought I better pull my finger out and start making some birdies. It’s not a case of trying harder but you are conscious of it when your playing partner is going so well. Dave played fantastic and it does keep you going. If you are playing with somebody who is a little bit despondent then it is easy for them to get you down. I’m just happy that I’m still in the hunt.”