HOME favourite Steve Surry was among those within striking distance on day two of the HotelPlanner.com PGA EuroPro Tour’s GRENKE Championship at Cumberwell Park Golf Club in Bradford on Avon yesterday.

While Dimitrios Papadatos carded an opening round 63 to lead the three-round event at by one stroke on eight under par, Surry was one of 10 golfers three off the lead.

Michael Bullen and Jordan Wrisdale shared second spot with three golfers two back on -6 after the first round.

Six birdies on his last seven holes which propelled the Australian to the top of the leaderboard.

Wrisdale (Boston) has finished inside the top ten in both EuroPro events he has started this season and is on-course for a hat-trick after an unblemished opening round saw him join Bullen in second.

Nick Marsh (Huddersfield Golf Club), James Simpson (Close House Golf Club) and Neil Raymond (Corhampton Golf Club) were tied fourth on six under par.

The GRENKE Championship was concluding with the final round today (Friday), featuring the leading 50 players and ties.

Spectator entry is free of charge and live scoring can be found at europrotour.com.

l HAMPSHIRE player Darren Walkely earned himself a £1,000 bonus for finishing closest to the pin in the tournament curtain-raiser, the Ablrate.com Shoot-Out at Cumberwell on Tuesday.

With a £100,000 jackpot to make a hole in one from 170 yards on the club’s’s new par-three course, none of the 26 players who qualified to take a shot managed an ace.

Walkely (Hayling Golf Club) was the closest, by half an inch, to win the £1,000 cash prize ahead of Andrew Cheese (Sutton Coldfield Golf Club), who fired to within 4ft 10 inches of the flag.

However, ex-PGA Tour professional John Morgan walked away with the bragging rights as he took a shot at the challenge at the end of the day, while filming for Sky Sports.

The 39-year-old Bristolian sunk the hole in one and after the realisation set in, he proceeded to run down the hill and swim across the lake to retrieve his ball from the island green.