Irish eyes were smiling after round two of the Costa Rica Open on the European Challenge Tour as Belfast’s Michael Hoey moved into a share of the lead, closely followed by Athlone’s Colm Moriarty after another day of tough conditions at the Cariari Country Club, San Jose, Costa Rica.
Hoey carded his second successive round of 70 to join Kyle Dobbs of the USA at the top of the leaderboard on a two under par aggregate of 140, with Moriarty sitting just one shot back after a two under par 69 in round two.
Moriarty is tied with Sergio Acevedo of Argentina, with another four players a further shot behind on level par 142 in the event, which is joint sanctioned between the Challenge Tour and the Tour de las Americas.
As conditions at the Cariari CC toughened up, England’s Richard McEvoy and Argentina’s Juan Abbate, who shared the first round lead with Dobbs, carded 76 and 77 respectively to fall back to one and two over par.
The blustery winds at the tricky 6577 yard Cariari CC proved less of a problem for the Irish duo of Hoey and Moriarty, both having grown up playing in the wind on their native island.
Hoey, currently third on the Challenge Tour Rankings after finishing runner-up at the TIM Peru Open and in third place at the Panama Open last December, began his round by holing some outstanding putts – the most notable being on the first and fourth greens when he holed out from over 30 feet. He dropped his only shot of the day – and indeed the tournament so far – on the 16th.
Nevertheless, Hoey is thoroughly enjoying his Latin American experience. The 25 year old from Northern Ireland said: “I like the weather! Actually, I like the grainy greens, I am kind of good at reading them. It’s windy here just like in Ireland but I play in that stuff all the time, so it doesn’t really bother me that much.
“I played well today, but really shouldn’t have had any bogeys. It was a silly one on the 16th, from nowhere really. But, other than that I just kept holing the putts for par.”
Moriarty also enjoys playing under the gusty wind. The Challenge Tour player was even-par after 13 holes of his second round, but managed to produce an eagle at the 14th and a birdie at the 16th to help him finish with a 69 and get within one stroke of the lead.
“It’s tricky out there, but it’s just a matter of being patient and just trying to find the fairways off the tees,” said the 25 year old. “If you can do that, I think you can gain control out of the fairway. But if you are in the semi-rough you have no chance really.”
Dobbs, meanwhile, overcame a slow start of three bogeys in his first four holes to finish the day with a two over par 73. He said: “Today was a struggle. I thought I hit the ball pretty well, I thought I hit a lot of good putts, but nothing really worked. That’s just the difference out here. One day you are three feet from having a good brake, and the next day you are three feet from having a bad brake.”
Challenge Tour Number One, Rafael Gomez of Argentina, is among the four players on level par after a second round 73. He joined his fellow countryman, Gustavo Acosta (69), Raphaël De Sousa of Switzerland (73), and Germany’s Erol Simsek, who, along with Paraguay’s Angel Franco and Irishman Justin Kehoe, carded the lowest round of the day with his three under par 68.
