Shropshire's Oliver Farr makes his first European Tour cut

The Ludlow-born professional qualified for the third and fourth rounds of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championships – an event with a $2.7m prize fund.

Farr is aiming to build on his milestone achievement at the championships which continue over the weekend.

Farr, who is in just his fourth season as a professional, made the cut for rounds three and four of the prestigious tournament with a superb three under par second round score of 69.

That saw him finish day two a shot above the cut, in tied 56th place, with a two-under-par total of 142. Farr had previously fallen short in his previous two competitions on the Tour, the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the South African Open Championship.

And he said: "It's great to get my first cut out here, having missed the two previous and not playing that badly.

"It gives me some confidence and hopefully I can go out there this weekend and try to move up the leaderboard."

Farr had been up against it to make the cut after a slightly underwhelming first round saw him card a one over par 73.

But he upped his game significantly in yesterday's second round, sinking four birdies and just one bogey to extend his involvement in the competition for another two days.

He said: "I didn't play too differently from how I did on day one, but the putts went in yesterday and I had a lovely spell to finish off my round with birdies on holes five, six and seven.

"It was a shame about the bogey on the last for my only dropped shot of the day – but it's a cut made and we can go out on the weekend hoping for more birdies."

Play was continuing today at Abu Dhabi Golf Club, with the fourth and final round concluding the competition tomorrow.

Farr's achievement so far is all-the-more remarkable given the depth and quality of the field that has entered the competition.

US Open winner and three-time victor in Abu Dhabi Martin Kaymer, of Germany, topped the leaderboard with an excellent 13-under-par total of 131 after day two.

Belgium's Thomas Pieters was a shot behind in second place while World No.1 and Open champion Rory McIlroy was third on 11 under par.

The Northern Irishman had been tied eighth after round one, having shot five under.

But a first ever European Tour hole-in-one on the 15th helped him card an improved second round of six under to move up the leaderboard into the top three at the half way stage.