The Cub has finally emerged from the Golden Bear's shadow, and Gary Nicklaus is not complaining.

In 12 previous tournaments on the PGA European Tour this season, Nicklaus missed the cut nine times - but he has come of age in Straffan, a place where he's had the opportunity to indulge in his twin passions of golf and fishing.

He's now in quite unfamiliar territory, a contender. Yesterday, Nicklaus shot a second round 66 for four-under-par 140 to lie just two shots adrift of the midway leaders in a £1.5 million tournament and with work to do over the weekend.

The family resemblance with his father Jack is immediately obvious, but the Nicklaus attachment brings negative and positive aspects. The Nicklaus name carries considerable weight, and Gary's presence in the European Open is courtesy of a sponsor's invite. "I wouldn't be here this week if I wasn't a Nicklaus," he conceded, borne out by his placing in the Order of Merit where he occupied 190th place with a meagre £6,964 in prize-money.

But there is also the negative side, too. As a Nicklaus, "you live in a fish tank," he said. "Everywhere you go, everybody knows you and what you're doing. You're under the microscope all the time. However, you have to take the good with the bad and I'm proud of who I am, proud of my dad and proud of my family."

Gary has inherited his dad's passion for fishing - the Golden Bear actually owns a stretch of river in Iceland - and, before heading off on a Greek holiday two weeks ago, he dispatched his fishing tackle to Straffan where he is staying locally but with permission to use the estate.

However, he showed his visit to Ireland was more than for fishing. Since his arrival Nicklaus has worked hard on the range and started to get the ball "to move left to right" and, in fairness, he has grabbed the opportunity presented by the invite to play his best golf of the season.

"I missed one fairway and one green," Nicklaus remarked of his second round which contained a run of five successive birdies, from the 16th to the second. "I feel pretty confident about the way I'm playing now, but it was kind of hard to stay positive the way I'd been playing. I wouldn't be human if I didn't feel like giving it up but you have got to keep coming back, to keep trying."

Nicklaus's perseverance could yet pay rich dividends. "I haven't been in this position for a long time. I want to go out and enjoy myself, have fun and play well," he said. His lowest round is a 63 shot on the Golf Coast Tour Championship (a mini-tour now known, fittingly enough, as the Golden Bear Tour) three years ago, but yesterday's 66 was his lowest on the European Tour.

Jack is blissfully unaware that his son has finally shown his full ability on a golf course. "We haven't talked for about two weeks," explained Gary. "He's in Africa with the rest of the family and it's tough to reach him."

If the younger Nicklaus manages to maintain his form over the week, no doubt his dad will get to hear about it.