Ricardo Gonzalez and Lee Slattery, who got away from golf in very different places and in very different ways last week, are first and second at the halfway stage of the SAS Masters in Malmo. .
Gonzalez, who after failing to qualify for The British Open returned to Argentina and worked on his farm all week, moved into the lead on 10-under-par after a second successive 68.
First round pacesetter Slattery, who went on picnics in the Lake District, is one behind after adding a 70 to his sparkling opening 67.
“I had to stop thinking about golf for a while,” said the 30-year-old from Southport, who has fallen to 136th place on the European money list and 504th in the world this season.
“Not only did I leave my clubs behind, I didn’t even take my phone.”
For the second day running the former Challenge Tour winner, yet to taste victory on the main circuit, was forced off the Barseback course by an approaching storm.
In the first round it rather took the wind out of his sails after he had raced to an outward 30, but this time it worked in his favour.
“It was getting really windy when we stopped, but it had died down as we went back out.”
Slattery finished with a superb 287-yard three-wood onto the green at the long ninth and two-putted for birdie.
Pre-tournament favourite Henrik Stenson, who is donating all his prize money to his new Foundation charity, was relieved not to leave empty-handed after a closing birdie removed the threat of missing the halfway cut.
Stenson is down on one over following a 74, but said: “At least I’m around for the weekend and hopefully I can put some gasoline on the fire now and really get going.
“I’ve got to attack even more. I didn’t use my driver until the last hole of the second round, but you’ll be seeing more of it tomorrow.”
former US Open champion Michael Campbell made his first cut since last October, but did it only after a wait of nearly eight hours and only when England’s Phillip Archer and Swede Ake Nilsson both failed to end their rounds with birdies late in the evening.
Campbell has been struggling with a shoulder problem and pulled out of The Open during his second round last week.
After an opening 78 another early exit was on the cards, but he improved eight strokes on that on his return to Barseback — at 7,665 yards the longest course
in European Tour history — and then spent the rest of the day wondering if two over par was good enough to survive.
“I’ve had a mental barrier to get through as well as physical,” he said. “A lot of people around me have been very supportive, but the bottom line is that it’s up to you.
“I’d be a rich man if I was paid something every time somebody has asked me what’s happening, but hopefully I’ve turned the corner now.”
Peter Lawrie and Damien McGrane lead the Irish challenge in Sweden on two under after they both carded rounds of 71 on the par-73 layout.
A shot further back are the duo of Gareth Maybin (73) and Gary Murphy (74), while Michael Hoey was two shots inside the cut on level par following a 74. Jonathan Caldwell could only manage a four-over 77 and missed out by two strokes.
SCOREBOARD
Second Round (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 73)
136Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 68 68
137Lee Slattery 67 70
140Richie Ramsay 70 70, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 70 70, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 69 71
141Anders Sjostrand (Swe) 72 69, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 72 69
142Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 72 70, Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 71 71, Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 70 72
143Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 71, Christian Nilsson (Swe) 72 71, Marcus Higley 72 71, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 72 71, Jamie Donaldson 71 72, Danny Willett 71 72, Tano Goya (Arg) 69 74, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 74 69
144Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 74 70, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 73 71, Steve Webster 71 73, Damien McGrane 73 71, Robert Dinwiddie 74 70, Peter Lawrie 73 71, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 74 70, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 72 72, Pablo Martin (Spa) 69 75, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 74 70
145Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 73 72, Gareth Maybin 72 73, Marcel Siem (Ger) 71 74, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 72 73, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 76 69, Brett Rumford (Aus) 70 75, Jacob Olesen (Den) 73 72, Gary Murphy 71 74, Joel Sjoholm (Swe) 73 72, Callum Macaulay 73 72, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 71 74, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 73 72, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 74 71
146Richard Bland 74 72, Robert Rock 73 73, John Mellor 76 70, Nathan T Smith (USA) 75 71, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 74 72, David Lynn 73 73, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 74 72, Michael Hoey 72 74
147Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 73 74, Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 77 70, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 75 72, Andrew Coltart 76 71, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 69 78, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 72 75, James Driscoll (USA) 73 74, Simon Dyson 75 72, Johan Edfors (Swe) 74 73, Peter Hanson (Swe) 74 73, Will MacKenzie (USA) 73 74, Antti Ahokas (Fin) 74 73, Sam Little 72 75, Christopher Doak 74 73, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 73 74
148Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 77 71, Ake Nilsson (Rsa) 75 73, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 78 70, Per Barth (Swe) 75 73, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 73 75, Branden Grace (Rsa) 70 78, Simon Khan 74 74, Joakim Rask (Swe) 75 73, Niklas Bruzelius (Swe) 78 70, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 74 74, Phillip Archer 75 73, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 78 70, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 74 74, Bradley Dredge 76 72
MISSED CUT
149Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 76 73, Stuart Davis 75 74, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 76 73, David Horsey 76 73, Steven O'Hara 76 73, Seve Benson 76 73, Kane Webber (Aus) 76 73, Alexandre Rocha (Bra) 79 70, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 75 74, Matthew Millar (Aus) 75 74, Inder Van Weerelt (Ned) 76 73, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 78 71
150 Jonathan Caldwell 73 77, Robert Carlsson (Swe) 77 73, Benn Barham 78 72, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe) 76 74, Birgir Hafthorsson (Ice) 74 76, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 74 76, Johan Wahlqvist (Swe) 74 76, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 76 74, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 78 72, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 75 75, Kyle Stanley (USA) 77 73, Peter Gustafsson (Swe) 73 77, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 79 71, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 77 73, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 73 77, Ross McGowan 73 77, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 73 77, Barry Lane 75 75
151Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 76 75, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 76 75, Alexander Noren (Swe) 71 80, James Kingston (Rsa) 74 77, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 74 77
152David Dixon 76 76, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 77 75, Santiago Luna (Spa) 74 78, Scott Drummond 74 78, Simon Wakefield 79 73, Anthony Snobeck (Fra) 78 74, Chinnarat Phadungsil (Tha) 72 80
153Gary Lockerbie 78 75, Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 82 71, Rolf Muntz (Ned) 78 75, Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa) 79 74, John E Morgan 76 77, Wilhelm Schauman (Swe) 76 77, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 81 72
154Wil Besseling (Ned) 74 80, Marco Ruiz (Par) 77 77, Andrew Oldcorn 73 81, Taco Remkes (Ned) 75 79, Anders Larsson (Swe) 78 76, Ben Mason 77 77, Stuart Manley 78 76, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 78 76
155Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 79 76, Andre Bossert (Swi) 79 76, Anton Haig (Rsa) 79 76, Marc Warren 77 78
156Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 80 76
157Mattias Nordqvist (Swe) 80 77, Iain Pyman 77 80, Pontus Gad (Swe) 78 79, Nils Floren (Swe) 79 78, David Frost (Rsa) 79 78
158Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spa) 78 80, Kalle Brink (Swe) 80 78, Oliver Fisher 79 79
159Roope Kakko (Fin) 82 77
160Bjorn Akesson (Swe) 85 75
163Michael Curtain (Aus) 79 84
