Damien McGrane was 17 years into his professional golf career when his first European Tour title finally came last April. Now a second is firmly in his sights.
The 37-year-old Irishman resumed the Madeira Islands Open BPI-Portugal in the joint lead in Porto Santo on Friday - thanks to holing a bunker shot on his final hole last night.
McGrane's two at the short ninth for a 66 put him alongside former Ryder Cup Swede Joakim Haeggman on five under par, and he agreed: "It was a spectacular way to finish.
"I thought I was right up on the bank and I was delighted to see that it had gone in the bunker to be honest.
"It was still an extremely difficult bunker shot but one of those rare things happened where not only did I put the ball on the green but I managed to get it in the hole.
"I hit it well and it came out perfectly, landed perfectly and rolled in, which was a bit of a bonus."
The County Meath player's breakthrough victory last April came in the China Open and he won it by nine strokes.
With a runner-up finish in the Indian Masters and two other top 10s he was a best-ever 30th on the Order of Merit, and he is 39th in the current Race To Dubai standings despite missing out on the two World Championships so far.
The absence of most of the circuit's stars means he is one of the favourites this week.
Haeggman has not won since the 2004 Qatar Masters and has had to go to the Tour qualifying school the last two years.
He finished joint fifth there in November, however, and, with a seventh place in the Joburg Open two months ago, appears to be re-igniting a career that saw him become the first Swede to play in the Ryder Cup in 1993 at The Belfry.
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