Following yesterday's bright start at Carnoustie, the Irish challenge at the Open Championship faded somewhat today as Paul McGinley, Padraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy all lost ground on leader Sergio Garcia.

Harrington and teenage sensation McIroy were a among the early starters but dropped back to level par and two-over respectively, Harrington losing three shots in the final four holes for a second round 73.

The Dubliner had two bogeys and two birdies before dropping a shot on the 15th and recording a painful double bogey on the last.  Last year's European number one is now six shots behind Garcia.

Another Irishman who failed to replicate his first round score was amateur McIlroy. The youngster almost stole the show from Garcia with an opening three-under-par 68, the only player in the 156-strong field not to card a single bogey.

However, he failed to rediscover the magic of the first round but comfortably made the cut on two-over and also picked up the silver medal as leading amateur.

Paul McGinley, second overnight on four-under, had to wait until after 3pm to renew his challenge but struggled throughout, a bogey at the first an ominous sign of things to come. A double-bogey followed at the third as his round threatened to unravel but he battled gamely for a 75 and at level par remains in the tournament.

There was disappointment elsewhere for Darren Clarke (six-over) Graeme McDowell, David Higgins (both eight-over) and Justin Kehoe (12-over) who all missed the halfway cut.

Garcia still leads the way on six-under-par after a 72 but now comes the hard part for the 27-year-old Spaniard — 12 times he has finished in the top 10 in majors, but not once yet has he achieved victory.

A chance to follow in the footsteps of his compatriots Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal has arrived again on the same course where eight years ago he had the worst two rounds of his professional career.

From the nightmare of his 30-over-par total then — rounds of 89 and 83 left him dead last — the world number 13 today added a level-par 71 to his sparkling opening 65. A shot-a-hole improvement over the two days.

And with Tiger Woods' bid for a third successive Claret Jug hitting trouble from the moment he hooked an iron out of bounds off the first tee — he eventually came off with a 74 to fall seven behind — Garcia's six-under-par halfway total of 136 was always likely to keep him at the top of the leaderboard in the windy conditions.

South Korean KJ Choi, one place ahead of Garcia on the world rankings after two recent wins on the US Tour, looked for a while as if he might at least draw level with him after birdies at the 14th and 15th brought him one behind.

But he was almost in the Barry Burn with his closing drive and with a bogey five had to settle for a second successive 69.

Choi was still second on his own in the clubhouse, one ahead of Garcia's countryman Miguel Angel Jimenez and Canadian Mike Weir, while out on the course in-form Swede Pelle Edberg also stood three under with the feared closing
four-hole stretch still to come in the cold of the evening.

World number one Woods, joint eighth overnight on two under, double-bogeyed the first and after a birdie on the next dropped further shots on the fifth and eighth.

It could have been far worse for Woods. He was close to the out-of-bounds fence on the long sixth, scrambled a par at the ninth off a really poor approach into sand and then, for the second day running, had incredible good fortune on the 466-yard 10th.

In his opening 69 it came with a free drop away from a bad lie in the rough because of television cables that strangely could not be moved — even the Royal and Ancient Club's Director of Rules could not answer why today — and on his return he might easily have hit his approach into the Barry Burn.

Instead his ball came down in the trees, narrowly missing two people blissfully unaware that they could have been hit, and with a clear path to the flag he salvaged another par.

Woods then birdied the long 14th, but finished with a bogey and said: "It was basically a lack of commitment on the first tee. It was such a poor shot — the commitment wasn't there and I didn't back off. I hit a lot of poor shots, but I hung in there.

"The course is playing difficult and with the bad weather forecast tomorrow you've just got to grind it out and try to stay away from big numbers."