Paul McGinley
Paul McGinley was the only Irish player to make the cut at the Open de Andalucía de Golf by Turkish Airlines after his round of 71 and one under par total left him the right side of the projected cut at the Parador de Malaga Golf course - where more than 20 players were separated by only four strokes at the halfway stage .
The result was the cut of level par ruled out Darren Clarke, Damien McGrane Michael Hoey, Gareth Maybin and Shane Lowry of any weekend play.
Jeppe Huldahl of Denmark, Rikard Karlberg of Sweden and Maarten Lafeber of the Netherlands share the lead ahead of the weekend on 8-under-par.
Karlberg, who does not even have a European Tour card and is playing on a sponsor’s invite, followed up his opening 65 with a 67 and looked like leading on his own when he pitched to eight feet on the par five 14th for birdie only to hand the shot back at the 16th.
Karlberg's third place in the Barclays Singapore Open last November would normally have earned him a card for this season. But because he had joined The Challenge Tour and did not play the required seven events he did not qualify for inclusion on The Race to Dubai the Order of Merit and so was left seeking invitations.
The 24 year old is a two-time Asian Tour winner and was their rookie of the year last season.
Former Celtic Manor Wales Open champion Huldahl had set the mark with a second successive 66 while Lafeber, whose only European Tour win came in the 2003 Dutch Open, shot 65.
Lafeber is the most experienced of the trio out in front, but the 36 year old has only one title in nearly 340 appearances on The European Tour.
“It was a solid round. To be honest, my long game was not good but I did very well around the greens,” he said.
“I putted really badly the first four or five weeks of the season, so I went to the US to see my coach, and we are working on it.
“I like this course. I like courses where you have to make a good choice off the tee. I think this is a challenging course.”
Huldahl slipped out of the top 150 on last season’s Race to Dubai, but has made improvements to his game in order to compete more regularly.
“I had two very solid first rounds,” said Huldahl.
“I changed my swing last year. I needed to improve my technique in order to become a more stable player, and that took its time.
Today I played very good off the tee, and when I hit bad shots, I missed on the safe side. There’s still a long way to go.”
Scotland's 1999 Open Champion Paul Lawrie is one behind after a six foot birdie at the last, along with England's Jamie Elson and five-time Japanese Tour winner Tetsuji Hiratsuka, another of the invited players.
“The key of my score has been around the green,” said Hiratsuka, whose regular caddie is not travelling with him this week after his house was destroyed in the recent earthquake.
“I chipped and putted extremely well and hit some great short irons.”
Lawrie, round in 67, will sense a big chance to end nearly nine years without a win, while at three under after posting the same score, England's 50 year old Barry Lane is still in the hunt to become the oldest winner in European Tour history.
Damien McGrane found himself on the wrong side of the cut after a one over par round of 71 left him one over par overall - two strokes away from safety.
Darren Clarke also signed for a 71 and a 2 over par total along with Michael Hoey, who is also out despite an eagle three at the fourteenth.
Gareth Maybin missed the cut for a second successive week after eight bogeys on Friday and just one birdie on the14th to finish with a round of 77 for a total of +5.
Shane Lowry was already in difficulty after his first round and found things more challenging when he carded 5 bogeys, a double and then a triple bogey on the front nine ending the day with an 80 on his card and +15 overall.
Dan Gaunt of Australia also looked in trouble after his round of 69 left him level for the tournament and on the projected cut.
