After a much improved second round, Gary Hurley is now holding a share of 16th at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open on the DP World Tour.
The Aglish native went out and shot -4 on Friday morning to move 36 placed up the standings.
Despite the warm weather at Mont Choisy golf course where players are basking in 24 degrees of sunshine, the wind has been a factor in how they find their way around the course. Gusts of 9-11 m/s have proved difficult to gauge and Hurley commented that it's a real challenge.
"It is yeah. There are some shots that are tough." he mused. "The eight hole is a tough par-3 and I actually hit a great shot in there today and 3-putted."
The course has returned mixed results for Hurley over the first two days. Thursday was very up and down with the West Waterford man carding a level par round of 72.
"It gives you some chances as well though," he continued. "Some of the par-5's are getable. You just gotta play smart and be solid around the greens."
Those par-5s have proved fruitful for Hurley so far. Two on the front and three on the back means he's been through ten of them so far - hitting six birdies and four pars while he is yet to drop a shot on one of the long ones.
The front nine has posed the biggest tests so far for the field. Exposed to the elements on an already windy day the challenge has been to control the flight of the ball and place it in a spot for a viable second shot. Yesterday is when those challenges nearly got the better of the Waterford man. Three dropped shots on the 3rd, 6th and 8th were countered by a 7th-hole birdie, but Hurley says he was battling himself at that stage.
"A lot of the work I do mentally is fairly draining. Yesterday I was getting upset about stupid things - things I haven't been getting upset about throughout the year - and it was getting in the way. I still played quite decent, but today was much better. I had a better theme for the day about how I wanted to be and I hit some really nice golf shots as well - so yeah, it was good".
