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Paul Dunne has admitted his golf game is showing signs of improvement but a win in this week's Made in Denmark event might just be beyond him.
The 26-year-old from Greystones carded a one-under 70 in his second round to make it to four under, four shots off leader Matthias Schwab of Austria.
Dunne is seeking a first European Tour title since winning the British Masters in 2017 and offered an honest assessment when asked if another victory was on the cards.
“No not really, I haven’t been playing very well,” Dunne said. “This is a course I feel comfortable on and I can manage my way around, but I wouldn’t say I’m trending in a great direction.
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“My last few months haven’t been brilliant but I’m definitely seeing some good signs and sharpness around the greens which is kind of the key round here when it gets windy.
“There’s four or five holes you just want to get through, get a par out of them, and you can take some chances once you get through 13.”
Schwab defied miserable conditions to claim the halfway lead as he chases a first European Tour title.
Strong winds and heavy bursts of rain made scoring difficult on day two at Himmerland Golf & Spa Resort, but Schwab carded a superb, bogey-free 66 to finish eight under par, a shot ahead of Spain's Alejandro Canizares and France's Romain Langasque.
Scotland's Robert MacIntyre, who was joint second in the British Masters a fortnight ago, is two shots further back alongside Alvaro Quiros and Bernd Wiesberger, with Dunne part of a four-strong group on four under.
Schwab, 24, said: “I’m feeling good, I’m happy about how the day went and a little bit happy that it’s over too because, especially early on, it was very difficult and not much fun to be out there with rain and wind and very cold.
“In the end it turned out to be a good day. I usually play okay on courses which are tougher than average on Tour so that suits my game well.
“I guess I’m a good wind player too, really I’m just trying to do my own thing and see what comes out.”
Michael Hoey carded a two-over 73 to slip back to one under, although it could have been worse as he recovered from four bogeys in the first 13 holes to card three birdies in four holes to make the weekend.
Gavin Moynihan was also forced to dig deep to make the cut, with three birdies on the back nine helping him to a three-under 68 as he got back to level par for the tournament
Defending champion Matt Wallace, who finished joint third in the US PGA Championship last week, fell six shots off the pace after struggling to a 73, while Welshman Bradley Dredge had to withdraw due to a pre-existing heart condition.
Dredge had shot 76 in the first round but was two under for 11 holes on Friday before pulling out as a precaution.
LEADERBOARD
(Britain and Ireland unless stated, par 71, (a) denotes amateur):
134 Matthias Schwab (Aut) 68 66
135 Alejandro Canizares (Esp) 66 69, Romain Langasque (Fra) 69 66
137 Robert Macintyre 67 70, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 68 69, Alvaro Quiros (Esp) 70 67
138 Adrien Saddier (Fra) 70 68, Max Schmitt (Ger) 68 70, Alexander Bjork (Swe) 68 70, Paul Dunne 68 70
139 Oliver Wilson 68 71, Stuart Manley 69 70, Matthew Southgate 66 73, Chris Paisley 68 71, Martin Simonsen (Den) 71 68, Pablo Larrazabal (Esp) 68 71, Oliver Fisher 68 71, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 68 71, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 67 72, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 66 73
140 Kurt Kitayama (USA) 72 68, Matt Wallace 67 73, Espen Kofstad (Nor) 68 72, James Morrison 69 71, Scott Jamieson 70 70, Kristian Krogh Johannessen (Nor) 68 72, Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 70 70, Jeff Winther (Den) 73 67, Joel Girrbach (Swi) 71 69
141 Lasse Jensen (Den) 72 69, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 67 74, Grant Forrest 70 71, Mathias Gladbjerg (Den) 69 72, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 71 70, John Catlin (USA) 67 74, Thomas Detry (Bel) 72 69, Michael Hoey 68 73, Richie Ramsay 72 69, SSP Chawrasia (Ind) 70 71, Niklas Lemke (Swe) 69 72, Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 69 72, Paul Waring 66 75, Guido Migliozzi (Esp) 70 71, David Drysdale 68 73, Andy Sullivan 73 68, Tom Murray 66 75, Jamie Donaldson 71 70, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 70 71,
142 Ben Evans 75 67, Andrew Johnston 68 74, Christofer Blomstrand (Swe) 70 72, David Horsey 69 73, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 67 75, Nick Cullen (Aus) 73 69, Jin-ho Choi (Kor) 71 71, Kim Koivu (Fin) 70 72, Aaron Rai 74 68, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 71 71, Gavin Moynihan 74 68, Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 72 70, Robert Rock 70 72, Andrea Pavan (Ita) 74 68
143 Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 72 71, David Law 74 69, Richard McEvoy 72 71, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 70 73, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Esp) 71 72, Morten Orum Madsen (Den) 72 71, Jason Scrivener (Aus) 69 74, Ivan Cantero Gutierrez (Esp) 73 70, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 70 73, Adrian Otaegui (Esp) 71 72, Louis De Jager (Rsa) 68 75, Lee Westwood 70 73
MISSED CUT
144 Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 73 71, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 73 71, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 70 74, Marc Warren 69 75, Austin Connelly (Can) 69 75, Yusaku Miyazato (Jpn) 70 74, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 73 71, Erik Van Rooyen (Rsa) 69 75, Sean Crocker (USA) 74 70, Daniel Gaunt (Aus) 74 70, Kristoffer Reitan (Nor) 69 75, Ashley Chesters 73 71, George Coetzee (Rsa) 69 75, Lee Slattery 70 74, Romain Wattel (Fra) 73 71, Justin Walters (Rsa) 69 75, Jordan Smith 74 70, Max Orrin 70 74, Dimitrios Papadatos (Aus) 72 72, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 68 76
145 Adri Arnaus (Esp) 72 73, Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 71 74, Anton Karlsson (Swe) 71 74, Matthew Nixon 71 74, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 70 75, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 70 75, Jack Singh Brar 72 73, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 71 74, Lucas Herbert (Aus) 69 76, Sam Horsfield 68 77, Sebastian Soderberg (Swe) 70 75, Jake McLeod (Aus) 76 69, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 71 74, Nacho Elvira (Esp) 72 73, Jens Dantorp (Swe) 72 73
146 Elias Bertheussen (Nor) 72 74, Filippo Bergamaschi (Ita) 73 73, Ashun Wu (Chn) 72 74, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 74 72, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 71 75, Adam Bland (Aus) 74 72, Victor Perez (Fra) 73 73, Per Langfors (Swe) 74 72, Nicolai Hojgaard (a) (Den) 69 77, Alexander Levy (Fra) 71 75
147 Nicolai Kristensen (Den) 71 76, Stephen Gallacher 72 75, Kalle Samooja (Fin) 73 74, David Howell 73 74, Callum Shinkwin 72 75
148 Sihwan Kim (Kor) 76 72, Anders Hansen (Den) 70 78, Jorge Campillo (Esp) 75 73, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 72 76, Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 72 76, Scott Hend (Aus) 74 74, Jeunghun Wang (Kor) 69 79, Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 75 73, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 74 74, Gavin Green (Mal) 76 72
149 Steven Brown 73 76, Deyen Lawson (Aus) 75 74, Jack Senior 74 75, David Borda (Esp) 77 72, Bernd Ritthammer (Ger) 72 77, Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa) 72 77
150 Hugo Leon (USA) 73 77, (a) Oliver Jorgensen (Den) 75 75, Renato Paratore (Ita) 76 74, Christian Gloet (Den) 74 76
151 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 74 77, Clement Sordet (Fra) 71 80
152 Gudmundur Kristjansson (Swe) 78 74
153 Ricardo Gouveia (Por) 77 76, Liam Johnston 73 80, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 76 77, Nicolai Tinning (Den) 76 77
159 Daniel Gavins 79 80
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