Friday 30 April 2010

Irish Field Falters in Sevilla


An eight under par round by Johan Edfors of Sweden set the pace in round 2 of the Open de España at the Real club de Golf  de Sevilla as he finished day two on 64 shots. He leads in Spain by two shots from Fanny Willet of England and Raphael Jacquelin of France.

The overnight leader Ricardo Gonzalez of Argentina ended on 78 and dropped 56 places to level par and beyond the projected cut.

Damien McGrane started the day as he ended on Friday and went one under after a birdie on his second hole. But two bogeys on the 4th and 7th holes left him one over at the turn.  Then three birdies on 12, 13 and 16 pushed him back to 2 under for the day until he bogeyed 16 to finish on 71. McGrane is on 5 under overall and is in a 6 way tie that includes  Shane Lowry

Lowry went through the first nine on level par following a birdie on the 12th and then a bogey on the 16th. A four under par back nine left him five under for the tournament after two rounds of the Open de España and in a tie for 12th place.

On the front nine holes Darren Clarke matched two bogeys with two birdies to stay level at the halfway mark and four shots the wrong side of the projected cut. Then a three under par round on the back nine proved insufficient to secure a weekend stay for the Dungannon man on level par score overall.

The 2008 Open de España winner Peter Lawrie had his hopes dashed when he carded three bogeys through his first nine holes to end the day on 6 over. On teeing off at the tenth the Castleknock pro double bogeyed the par four but followed it up with a birdie at the 11th. He then picked up two more bogeys to end the day on 77 and an early departure from the south of Spain on 6 over.


Michael Hoey was 37 at the turn after a mix of four bogeys and three birdies. On the tenth he double bogeyed but then carded three birdies before three double bogeys on the 15th, 16th, and 18th left him signing for a 77 for a total of 9 over.

Simon Thornton struggled on the first nine holes with a  mix of bogeys and birdies to reach the 10th on level par.  Then three consecutive bogeys added to his woes leaving him three over as he teed of on the 14th. With a birdie to follow on 16 and then two more bogeys Thornton finished with a birdie on the 18th for a two par round of 74. With a 7 over par total Thornton misses the cut for the first time since the Africa Open last January.

Gary Murphy battled the odds from the outset on Friday started with two consecutive bogeys on his opening holes 11 and 12 only to make amends with two birdies on holes 13 and 16. However, a quadruple bogey on the par three 17th ended any hopes as he made the turn in 40 shots. Murphy finished the back nine on level par ending the round on 75 and a total of 10 over par for the tournament.

The Open de España is one of the longest-running tournaments on The European Tour and boasts a legendary roll of past champions including Severiano Ballesteros, Arnold Palmer, Sir Nick Faldo, Bernard Gallacher, Bernhard Langer, Sam Torrance and Padraig Harrington.




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