RICHARD BLAND slipped agonisingly off the leaderboard at the Nissan Irish Open yesterday after battling his way up to tenth.
The Southampton star, whose best performance on the European Tour came with a second place in Ireland three years ago, played his best nine holes of the season to reach the turn in 35 at the new Carton House venue.
After a run of high-scoring missed cuts, Bland played eight of the first nine in pars and picked up a shot at the 176-yard 17th.
Then his troubles began over the front nine where he bogeyed the second and sixth to finish on a one-over par 73.
Swede Klas Eriksson and Nick Dougherty led on 68.
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