Thomas Bjorn shot the round of the day at Carton House to move back into contention for the Irish Nissan Open. The Dane carded a 66 to go to level-par, four shots behind current leader Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts.
Colsaerts himself carded a 67, while English duo, Ian Poulter and Anthony Wall, and France's Christian Cavaer are immediately behind him on three-under. Wall carded a 68, Poulter 70 while Cavaer shot 71.
Colsaerts, 23, whose best European Tour finish was a second place finish in last year's Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, said he thought the weather had worked in his favour.
"I don't think it has been a bad deal for me because I played well this morning and when I came back it wasn't hard for me to carry on," he said. "I wish for some wind and rain at the weekend because that would be a real challenge, that would be cool."
Peter Lawrie closed with a birdie on the 18th for a round of 68 and is the leading Irishman on one-under.
Four birdies on the front nine and another at the 18th were enough for Damian McGrane to announce himself as a contender going into the weekend. He got back to level par for the tournament and despite bogeys at the 12th and 14th the Meath man still did enough for a round of 69.
After a testing first round 71 tournament favourite Padraig Harrington has struggled today. The Dubliner reached the turn in two over 38 before dropping further shots at the 10th and 12th. However, he rallied well to pick up birdies at the 13th and 15th to sign for a 74 and come in five off the pace.
Darren Clarke, playing alongside Bjorn, steadied his ship with a round of 70. Clarke shot a 75 yesterday but recovered somewhat today and lies on one-over-par but is clearly not in a happy place.
"I'm deriving no pleasure whatsoever from playing golf at the moment, it's horrific," bemoaned Clarke after his round. "I can't be bothered with it anymore. I'm fed up with it."
"I've got more interest to watch the rugby tomorrow but it's a two-tee draw so I don't know if I'll be finished in time for it or not, hopefully I will."
Michael Campbell lies five strokes off the lead. The US Open champion, who contended strongly in last week's British Masters before fading to fifth place, is keen to chalk up a ninth European Tour success before defending his title at Winged Foot next month.
"It's been tough with all the waiting around and bad weather but I'm far better than this time last year when I missed the cut," the New Zealander said.
Campbell is determined to go one better this season and win the European order of merit in which he finished second behind Colin Montgomerie in 2005.
"I've got to be consistent every week if I want to win the order of merit," added Campbell. "Sometimes in the past I've tended to throw in the towel."
The cut is projected at four-over but will not be finalised until the last remaining players finish their second rounds tomorrow morning, which is still nearly half the field.
Meanwhile, Paul McGinley still holds out a 50/50 chance of making his return to competitive action in the Welsh Open in a fortnight after being forced to withdraw yesterday to undergo surgery on his knee.
McGinley today said that the operation, carried out at the Cappagh Hospital in Dublin, was a success, but could not say for definite when he would return. The news will be a relief to Irish golf fans though, after there were fears that the Dubliner may miss the Ryder Cup at the K Club later this year.
"The operation went well," McGinley said from hospital today. "A piece of bone had moved round to the side of my knee and that's what was causing the problem."
"It's too early to say how long I will be out for, I can only take it on a day to day basis right now. I haven't ruled out the Wales open in two weeks time, but we will just have to wait and see."
