JOY TAKES TWO SHOT LEAD INTO FINAL ROUND AT CUMBERWELL PARK

McCarthy and Armitage close but Dorset man leads the way on -11

Luke Joy will take a two-stroke lead into the final round of the HotelPlanner.com Championship after carding a second-round 68 to move from eight under to 11 under and extend his 18-hole lead to two strokes by the end of Thursday’s play at Cumberwell Park in Wiltshire.

Nick McCarthy and Marcus Armitage share second on nine under, while seven golfers are tied fourth on eight under. Among those three behind the leader is Dave Thomas, who shot the day’s best round – an eight-under-par 63 on the par-71 Red and Yellow Course.

Joy (Broadstone Golf Club) began the day one ahead of the field after opening with a 63 on Wednesday. His second round began on the tenth tee and he got off to a promising start with birdies at 11 and 12. He broke par again at the first to sign for an unblemished second-round 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 (Moortown Golf Club) was four behind Joy at the start of the day but a second-round 66 saw him move to within two of the leader. Armitage (Howley Hall Golf Club) was a winner on the Tour at Concra Wood last year and shot a six-under 65 to join McCarthy in second ahead of the final round.

Eight http://www.shotsaverdirect.com/golfers will begin Friday’s conclusive 18 just three off the lead and having seen course-record rounds of eight under carded twice this week will know a low score for victory is possible.

A further nine players are just four behind Joy and will also take realistic hopes of finishing top of the pack into Friday’s. The winner will take home £10,000 from the £40,000 prize fund.

Some of Europe’s best young golfers are in action in the HotelPlanner.com PGA EuroPro Tour event, and the final round will be filmed for a two-hour highlights package to be aired on Sky Sports on July 1.

A cut to the leading 50 players and ties has now been made, with the 67 players whose 36-hole scores are two under par or better proceeding to play the final round on Friday. Spectator entry is free and live scoring can be found at www.europrotour.com