Golf:There may be Major Irish champions scattered amongst the Irish Open field but it's an amateur by the name of Paul Cutler who has grabbed the headlines on the second day at Killarney Golf & Fishing Club.
This year's Lytham Trophy and Irish Close champion fired a second round 67 to move to six under at the halfway stage and just four shots off the lead set late in the day by Germany’s Marcel Siem after he carded a second straight 66 to move to 10 under.
Siem eagled the long 16th and sank a 25-foot birdie putt on the next to move one ahead of first-round leader Jeev Milkha Singh of India and Dane Soren Hansen.
On a day when Major champions Darren Clarke and Pádraig Harrington missed the cut, Cutler has plenty of Irish company on six under, with Damien McGrane (67), Peter Lawrie (66) and Michael Hoey (67 all primed to challenge going in to the weekend.
Portstewart golfer Cutler enjoyed five birdies in all and just the one dropped shot at the fourth.
"It's a great position to be in" said Cutler after his round. "I struggled off the tee yesterday but today I got it sorted out and played very well. I hit a lot of greens and gave myself a lot of chances and the putts dropped which helps.
“The Lytham Trophy and the Irish Close title I won this year are my biggest two wins to date," added Cutler, who if he was to win this week would emulate Shane Lowry's 2009 Irish Open win at Baltray when he was an amateur.
The Irish international is almost certain to make the Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team to take on the Americans at Royal Aberdeen in September. On this evidence he will be a welcome addition.
“I hope to make the Walker Cup team this year. There’s a fair chance and the team will be picked soon.
As far as this weekend is concerned, Cutler will not get ahead of himself.
“I just have to stick to what I’ve been doing, try not to get caught up in the whole atmosphere too much. Take one shot at a time.
“We'll see, Shane Lowry managed to win this event a few years ago. There’s still a long way to go, we’ll see what happens.
Despite being both six shots off the pace on four under, Ireland’s challenge may still come from US Open champions Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell.
McIlroy grabbed three late birdies for a second-round 68 today, while fellow Ulsterman McDowell went two better than that.
Siem has an extra incentive for wanting to win this weekend. Since partnering Bernhard Langer to World Cup success five years ago he has not earned the right to play in the event again, but he has the chance now to be with world number three Martin Kaymer in China later this year.
“There’s two rounds to go it’s only half-time,” he said after his 66. “I just want to stay calm and see what happens.” His one previous victory was in South Africa seven seasons ago.
Singh led by two after an opening 63 that matched the lowest round of his career and, given he hit a wild opening drive into the stones beside Lough Leane, he settled for adding a 70.
But that allowed ex-Ryder Cup man Hansen to catch him with a 66, while defending champion Ross Fisher and fellow Englishmen Simon Dyson and Simon Wakefield are among those on seven under.
LEADERBOARD
(Par 71, Irish in bold, British unless stated, (a) denotes amateur)
132Marcel Siem (Ger) 66 66
133Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 63 70, Soren Hansen (Den) 67 66
134Ignacio Garrido (Esp) 69 65
135Ross Fisher 67 68, Oliver Wilson 69 66, Richard Green (Aus) 67 68, Simon Dyson 70 65, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 67 68, Simon Wakefield 69 66
136Carlos Del Moral (Esp) 69 67, Christian Nilsson (Swe) 66 70, Damien McGrane69 67, Niklas Lemke (Swe) 67 69, David Horsey 68 68, Peter Lawrie70 66, ( a) Paul Cutler69 67, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 67 69, Michael Hoey69 67
137Gary Boyd 73 64, Richie Ramsay 68 69, Stephen Gallacher 71 66, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 68 69, Barry Lane 70 67
138 Graeme McDowell72 66, David Howell 69 69, Mark Brown (Nzl) 71 67, Anthony Wall 70 68, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 68 70, Rory McIlroy70 68, Matt Haines 69 69, Romain Wattel (Fra) 69 69, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 69 69, Markus Brier (Aut) 70 68, Jamie Donaldson 70 68
139Christian Cevaer (Fra) 70 69, Colm Moriarty67 72, Richard Bland 70 69, John Parry 68 71, Simon Khan 70 69, James Morrison 71 68, David Dixon 70 69, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 69 70, Mark Foster 70 69
140Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 71 69, Mark Tullo (Chi) 75 65, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 71 69, Rhys Davies 72 68, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 70 70, Florian Fritsch (Ger) 71 69, Oscar Floren (Swe) 68 72, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 67 73, Alexandre Kaleka (Fra) 65 75, Simon Thornton68 72, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 72 68
141George Murray 71 70, Steve Webster 67 74, Peter Whiteford 70 71, Robert Coles 71 70, Joost Luiten (Ned) 72 69, Robert Dinwiddie 70 71, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 71 70, Kenneth Ferrie 72 69, John G Kelly73 68, Oliver Fisher 68 73, Lloyd Saltman 67 74, David Drysdale 71 70, Joel Sjoholm (Swe) 69 72, Keith Horne (Rsa) 70 71, Tano Goya (Arg) 71 70
MISSED CUT
142Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 72 70, Gary Orr 73 69, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 70 72, Stuart Manley 71 71, Danny Willett 72 70, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 73 69, Lee Slattery 73 69, Graeme Storm 68 74, Anthony Kang (USA) 72 70, Thomas Norret (Den) 69 73, Paul McGinley70 72, David Higgins71 71
143Hennie Otto (Rsa) 70 73, Steve Lewton 73 70, Floris De Vries (Ned) 68 75, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 66 77, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 71 72, Scott Pinckney (USA) 73 70, Steven O'Hara 69 74, Darren McWilliams70 73, David Lynn 69 74, Darren Clarke69 74, Jose Manuel Lara (Esp) 71 72, Mark F Haastrup (Den) 70 73, Ross McGowan 68 75
144Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 72 72, Alvaro Velasco (Esp) 70 74, Julio Zapata (Arg) 72 72, Mark Murphy72 72, Gary Murphy73 71, Robert Rock 72 72, Tim Sluiter (Ned) 75 69, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 72 72, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 72 72, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Esp) 73 71, Bradley Dredge 71 73
145Chris Wood 75 70, Daniel Gaunt (Aus) 73 72, Gareth Maybin74 71, Phillip Price 72 73, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 72 73, (a) Kevin Phelan
72 73, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 74 71, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 72 73, Padraig Harrington73 72
146 Michael Collins72 74, Liam Bond 74 72, Matthew Nixon 72 74, Shaun Norris (Rsa) 70 76, Scott Strange (Aus) 71 75, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 76 70, Scott Jamieson 72 74, Seve Benson 71 75
147 (a) Alan Dunbar70 77, Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 73 74, Richard Finch 71 76, Matthew Zions (Aus) 72 75, Richard McEvoy 71 76, Manuel Quiros (Esp) 74 73, Andreas Harto (Den) 73 74
148 Damian Mooney74 74, James Kingston (Rsa) 71 77, Niall Kearney73 75, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Esp) 78 70, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 73 75
149Martin Wiegele (Aut) 75 74, Stephen Dodd 72 77, Nick Dougherty 75 74, (a) Dermot McElroy72 77
150Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 76 74, David Mortimer78 72
151 Noel Fox74 77
152 Eamonn Brady77 75, Shane Lowry74 78
153David Carter 78 75, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 76 77, Scott Hend (Aus) 78 75
DQ: Barrie Trainor
RTD:ean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Brett Rumford (Aus)
