EuroPro Tour: Joy takes two shot lead

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Luke Joy carded a second-round 68 to take a two-stroke lead into the final round of the HotelPlanner.com Championship at Cumberwell Park in Wiltshire.
 
Nick McCarthy and Marcus Armitage are both tied for second place on 9-under-par, while there’s a seven-way tie for fourth on eight under. Among those in this group three behind the leader is Dave Thomas, who shot the low round of the day, firing an 8-under-par 63 round the Par-71 Red and Yellow Course.
 
Joy, who plays his golf at Broadstone Golf Club, began the day one stroke ahead of the field after his opening 63 on Wednesday. He teed off on the tenth and got off to the perfect start, making birdies on two of his first three holes. He added another birdie on the first to finish with an error-free second round of 68.

“I played very solidly again today,” he said. “It wasn’t the fireworks with the putter I had in the first round but overall I was happy with the day’s work. The weather was very pleasant again and the course is in great shape.
 
“I am looking forward to the challenge ahead of me tomorrow. I will go out to have fun, see how low I can post and then see if it is enough to win.”
 
McCarthy, from Moortown Golf Club in Leeds, was four behind Joy at the start of the day’s play, but a second-round 66 saw him get to within two of the leader and he was joined in second place by Howley Hall Golf Club’s Marcus Armitage.  Armitage will be looking to recreate his success at last year’s Tour event at Concra Wood, and a second-round 65 has certainly put him in a good position to do just that.
 
In total, nine golfers will begin Friday’s final round within three shots of the lead and having seen two course-record rounds of 63 posted twice already this week, the players know that low scores are out there.
 
A further nine players are just four strokes off top spot and all have a realistic chance of topping the leader board come Friday evening. The winner of this Championship will take home a healthy £10,000 out of the £40,000 total prize fund.

With some of Europe’s top young talents in action, the HotelPlanner.com Championship will be filmed by the Sky Sports cameras and will be aired on July 1st.

A cut to the leading 50 players and ties was made on Thursday evening, with the 67 players whose 36-hole score was two-under-par or better going on to play in Friday’s final round. Spectator entry is free and you can keep up-to-date with the scoring on www.europrotour.com

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