The three of them were grouped together at the tail-end of the draw, which is where you find those in contention. But their second round journeys couldn't have been any more different: as Justin Rose, who was on cruise control, negotiated a route to the halfway lead in this Turkish Airlines Open, both Paul Dunne and Pádraig Harrington experienced roller-coaster rides that left them hanging on for dear life.
Rose moved to the top of the leaderboard with a second successive 65 for a 12-under-par total of 130, two strokes clear of his nearest pursuers Tom Lewis, Danny Willett and Thorbjorn Olesen. Dunne, though, struggled with driver and irons for a 71 for 135 while Harrington's woes were mainly with the putter in hand as he shot a 70 to also finish on 135, five adrift of Rose, in tied-11th.
For first round leader Dunne, his exasperation manifested itself with expletives as his drive on the 16th was pulled into the cork trees and his attempted recovery, attempting to hook the ball towards the green, ricocheted off a trunk. “Apologies for the on-course language today for anyone watching. Frustration got the better of me on 16,” tweeted Dunne later when made aware his language had been picked up on television mics.
Apologies for the on course language today to anyone watching. Frustration got the better of me on 16.
— Paul Dunne (@dunners11) November 2, 2018
Dunne had brought a slender one stroke lead into the second round but he took seven more shots than his opening round. It was an adventure, with a double-bogey, an eagle, three birdies and three bogeys thrown into the mix. The double came on the 10th, a hole with the most intimidating drive on the course, where he duck-hooked it into the water hazard, while he rebounded with an eagle three on the 12th.
But two late bogeys - from erratic tee-shots - on the 16th and the 18th pretty much summed up the kind of day he had. “It was a tough day really. I kind of struggled all day, battled through. To be honest with you level par was pretty good, it keeps me relatively in there. Hopefully that’s the bad day gone,” said Dunne, who added: “I just lost the face, swung the club badly. It is just easier to control your short irons if you use the ground to get a feel (of) the face. There are still 36 holes left, anyone could shoot 14 under out there over the weekend.”
For Harrington, it was also a day of frustration and it was the putter which was his tormentor. The Dubliner - who needs probably a top-five finish if he is to get into the field for next week’s Nedbank Championship - had three three-putts, the first of them (on the fourth) from 10 feet.
“I had had a bad day on the greens. It was energy sapping. I just missed putt, after putt, after putt. It’s a tough day when you’re doing that, it just kills the rest of your game. I played lovely, played great and was very happy (early on) but by the end of the round I was worn out, beaten up, worn down. It was a killer . . . I putted horrible. It just kills the day. If you are not holing putts, your momentum is just dire,” said Harrington.
While Dunne and Harrington were having their own adventures, Rose - apart from one miscue off the tee on the 10th, which found water - made the move to the top of the leaderboard in defence of his title.
“Justin played great, he is always playing great,” remarked Dunne of Rose’s second round. And the Englishman’s seven birdies and lone bogey, after his indiscretion on the 10th, moved him clear in the knowledge that a win would return him to the top of the world rankings.
If the game seemed easy for Rose, he wasn’t falling into the trap of admitting it so. “Clearly I’ve been burned by this game many a time and you have to keep working hard. I’m trying not to get too far ahead of myself,” he said, crediting his iron play as the key factor in his low scoring over the first two days.
He explained: “A lot of pin placements are up on shelves, off the side of these greens are a lot of run-offs but you have wedge, 9-iron in your hand. If you get overly defensive, you’re not going to make birdies, but you need to challenge some of those tough pin placements to try and shoot low around here. I think your iron play has to be on point. That’s the key.”
For Shane Lowry, there was a frustrating finish. Although he made an upward move with four birdies in his opening 12 holes, he hit a speed bump with a bogey on the 13th and then suffered a double-bogey on the 17th where his fairway wood off the tee was pulled left into heavy rough. His attempted recovery ran like a scalded cat into one of the cross bunkers, hopped up as if it would escape only to plunge back into the lip. It was an impossible shot, and he ran up a double-bogey six that had steam coming out of his ears. Lowry signed for a 70 for four-under 138.
Collated second round scores from the Turkish Airlines Open (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71)
130 Justin Rose 65 65
132 Tom Lewis 69 63, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 65 67, Danny Willett 67 65
133 Haotong Li (Chn) 66 67, Sam Horsfield 66 67, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 68 65, Alexander Levy (Fra) 67 66
134 Jason Scrivener (Aus) 67 67, Tommy Fleetwood 68 66
135 Julian Suri (USA) 67 68, Mike Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 70 65, Paul Dunne 64 71, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 69 66, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 66 69, Padraig Harrington 65 70
136 Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 71 65, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 66 70, Joost Luiten (Ned) 70 66, Russell Knox 70 66, Thomas Detry (Bel) 66 70, Chris Paisley 67 69, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 68 68, Hideto Tanihara (Jpn) 72 64
137 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 70 67, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 72 65, Matt Wallace 67 70, Ashun Wu (Chn) 66 71, Gavin Green (Mal) 67 70, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 68 69
138 Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 68 70, Shane Lowry 68 70, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 70 68, Erik Van Rooyen (Rsa) 67 71, Lee Westwood 66 72, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 69 69
139 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 71 68, Renato Paratore (Ita) 73 66
140 Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 70 70, Andy Sullivan 72 68, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 69 71, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 71 69, George Coetzee (Rsa) 70 70, Lee Slattery 70 70
141 Andrew Johnston 71 70, Jorge null Campillo (Spa) 72 69, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 72 69, Ashley Chesters 72 69, Lucas Herbert (Aus) 73 68, Robert Rock 73 68, Stephen Gallacher 70 71, Jeunghun Wang (Kor) 70 71
142 Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 70 72, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 73 69, Alexander Bjork (Swe) 73 69, Aaron Rai 71 71, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 69 73
143 Ali Altuntas (Tur) 74 69, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 72 71, Andrea Pavan (Ita) 68 75, Nacho Elvira (Spa) 71 72, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 74 69, Jens Dantorp (Swe) 72 71
144 Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 70 74, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 73 71, Brandon Stone (Rsa) 74 70, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 75 69
145 Jordan Smith 74 71, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 74 71, Oliver Fisher 71 74
146 Paul Waring 75 71, Richard McEvoy 75 71, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 77 69
147 Scott Hend (Aus) 73 74, Ross Fisher 72 75
148 Matthew Southgate 78 70
153 (a) Leon Acikalin (Tur) 74 79
157 (a) Taner Yamac (Tur) 78 79
