Padraig Harrington made steady progress on day two of the Benson and Hedges International Open to move within three shots of the lead jointly held by Colin Montgomerie, Greg Owen and Roger Wessels.
Harrington closed with a birdie at the ninth, his final hole, to round off a two-under par 70 for a three-under halfway aggregate while Montgomerie posted a flawless 67 to add to yesterday’s 71.
The Scot, who recently changed to the longer putter, picked up five birdies and no dropped shots in a satisfying round over the Brabazon Course which will host the Ryder Cup in September.
"No bogeys is the nice thing. It's the first thing I look at in a round," explained Montgomerie who put his fortune down to the last night's finish.
"My chip-in at the 18th last night gave me the momentum. It's amazing how it continues through dinner and this morning."
"It's nice to see my name on top of the leaderboard again. Even it's not there by the end of the day it will still leave me in contention," explained Montgomerie on BBCwho feels he has found his yardage once again.
"I know how far I’m hitting my shots again and doing that means I can turn 72’s into 67’s like today."
Englishman Owen made all the running yesterday during a record equalling 66 before consolidating with today’s level par 72. The South African Wessels went round in 69 for the second time in as many days.
Des Smyth equalled Harrington’s 70 and with his one-under aggregate the Drogheda professional safely made it into the weekend despite being unhappy with his game: "I am not happy with my game at the moment but I was pleased to grind out a score today," said Smyth.
Eamonn Darcy and Michael Hoey had an anxious afternoon of waiting to see if their two-over par totals were sufficient to make the cut. They were. Darcy improved slightly with today’s 71 while Hoey recorded his second consecutive 73.
It was all going too well for Ronan Rafferty, that was, until the 38-year-old started his second round. The former European number one opened with a double-bogey, double-bogey, bogey sequence to immediately undo all the good work from yesterday’s level par round. Rafferty never recovered and signed-off with an eight-over 80.
Paul McGinley will want to forget his day in a hurry, the Dubliner slumped to a very out of character 81 to finish 11-over. Unfortunately for him it leaves a bad taste in the mouth as it will be his last competitive round at the Belfry before the Ryder Cup.
The news was no better for his compatriot and fellow Ryder Cup teammate Darren Clarke. The 33-year-old left himself needing to hole a 25 footer for par on the last green to finish two-over and make the cut. He missed and could later be heard saying to his caddy Billy Foster ‘we’re going home’ with a wry smile on his face.
If this week’s event at the Ryder Cup venue was supposed to serve as a confidence boost and practice for 10 of the 12 European Ryder Cup players competing, then it fell way short of its objective.
Admittedly, Montgomerie has found form and shares the lead but half of the 10 failed to make the cut. They were; Clarke (+3), Pierre Fulke (+3), Lee Westwood (+6), Niclas Fasth (+6), and McGinley (+11).