Moriarty Extends Lead At Wensum Valley - 26/04/2007

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COLM Moriarty continued his fine start to the 2007 PGA EuroPro Tour season as he extended his lead at Wensum Valley in Norfolk.

Irishman Moriarty hit a fine -4 score of 68 on Tuesday during the opening event of the campaign and followed that up with another score under par, this time a -2.

He is the only competitor that has not struggled during the opening two rounds as many players have found the windy conditions and hard, dry course tough to handle.

With one day to go, Moriarty is five shots clear of the rest of the field and closing in on the £10,000 top prize. Englishman Neil Walker, who represents the Special Steel Group, is the only other player to currently have a total under par, on -1.

Daryl Ley, who had originally been one of the reserves for this event but got his chance as other players withdrew, was one of three players on level par, with the others being Christopher Hanson (Crosland Heath) and Graeme Clark.

The top 50 players will play a final round and Lawrence Dodd, a member of the Norfolk-based Thetford Golf Club, ensured there would be some local interest on the last day.

He was +5 after Tuesday's play and started his second round badly with two bogies and a double bogie in the first four holes to move up to +9. However, he recovered and a dramatic eagle on the 483-yard par-five 18th saw him register a second round level-par 72 as he avoided the cut by one shot.

"Before the first round I was pretty confident that I would do fairly well but after a start like mine I was always going to be struggling to make the cut," said Dodd, who lives in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. But I feel I'm playing some good stuff and you need a bit of luck. If I can get into the top ten I will be very happy."