Colm Moriarty of Team Ireland signed for a second round of 70 at the JW Marriott Mirage City Golf Club to take the lead of the Egyptian Open presented by SODIC and a share of eighteenth place.
Lee Slattery produced an outstanding second round of six under par 66 to take the lead and boost his chances of moving up from his currently 21st place in the Challenge Tour Rankings – one spot outside the all-important top 20 places that guarantee a place on next year’s European Tour – making just one error in an otherwise flawless display in trick, swirling winds on the outskirts of Cairo.
Slattery posted a nine under par halfway total of 135 to take a three stroke clubhouse lead from Frenchman Michael Lorenzo-Vera, who carded a second round 69, with Chile’s Mark Tullo matching that day two effort to move to five under for the week.
“I just didn’t put a foot wrong today to be honest,” said Slattery, winner of the Challenge Tour Rankings in 2004. “The only fairway I missed was on the 11th and so left myself a 30 foot par putt which I missed but apart from that there were no bogeys and I got in the zone a bit towards the end and had a very strong finish. I felt it was going to be a good day but it turned out to be a great day.
Slattery leads by one shot at the half way point from Alessandro Tadini of Italy and George Murray of Scotland who are both on 8 under
World Number Nine Rory McIlroy continued to battle against the swing changes he is trying to implement and struggled to a two over par 74 finish and one over par overall.
Gary Murphy though adds another missed cut to his tally this season carding two double bogeys on holes 9 and 11 to finish with a 78 - well off the cut mark of three over par- on a total of +11.
