Golf - South African Open: It was a fine day of scoring for the six Irishmen competing in the South African Open at Pearl Valley Golf Estates with Damien McGrane the best of them all after his low round of the day 64 moved the Meath pro into a share of second at the halfway stage.
McGrane enjoyed a flawless round with no less than eight birdies on the card. Starting at the 10th, this year's China Open winner quickly found his rhythm and covered the front nine in just 30 strokes - six birdies and no dropped shots.
Two further birdies came on the front nine as he equalled the low round of the day with South Africa's Thomas Aiken.
At 10-under par McGrane shares second and finds himself in prestigious company alongside home favourite Ernie Els (67), Charl Swartzel (65) and England's Lee Westwood (68).
The chasing are two shots adrift of Frenchman Michael Lorenzo-Vera, who leads on 12-under after today's 65.
McGrane attributed his success to being grouped with South African Schwartzel.
"It was strange the way it (his round) happened," he said. "We had a good three-ball and Charl had four birdies to start his game straight away today and I had one par and four birdies to follow him.
"I think I was brought along by his momentum. He was playing well and he's a world-class player, as you know, I just got into the game and went along with
his birdies.
"So both of us fed off each other a little bit and it's nice to see both of us at the top of the leaderboard."
Gareth Maybin and Michael Hoey, who represented Ireland at last year's World Cup in Mission Hills in China, both find themselves inside the top 10.
Maybin added a second round 69 to yesterday's impressive 66 to be tied sixth on nine-under, while Hoey's 66 elevated the Belfast pro to eight-under and tied ninth.
There was also good news for another northern pair, Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke, as both had much improved second rounds. McIlroy's 68 moved him to within six shots of the lead on six-under, while Clarke's 67 - including four birdies and an eagle - moved him to the right side of the cut mark at three-under.
Gary Murphy's 71 for a one-under halfway aggregate meant all six Irishmen made the cut which fell at one-under. Defending champion James Kingston missed the cut after a 74 left the South African two-over.
Henrik Stenson, the world number eight and highest ranked player at the co-sanctioned European and Sunshine Tour event, shot 71 and joined Clarke on three-under.
Two-time champion Retief Goosen (66) joins Hoey in the group on eight-under.
For the leader, Lorenzo-Vera, this week was all about testing his fitness after recovering from a wrist injury when he fell down stairs several months ago.
"It feels pretty good, pretty cool to be leading because I had two months of rest because of my wrist," said the 23-year-old, who was playing in his first tournament since the injury.
"So I was just coming here to find some new feelings.
"Today was just like yesterday, the putting was very good. The first nine, the putts were not very good, I think mainly because they were long putts. But the second nine I hit the irons much closer. But everything was good."
Four-time winner Els was optimistic of his chances going into the weekend.
"It's only the second round, halfway through the tournament and still so much to happen. I'm at 10-under and pretty pleased with that. I had a nice day and even if a guy is at 15-under I don't care," said the world number nine.
"We've got two rounds left. If I'm two shots behind with two to play I still have a chance to win, so there's still plenty of golf left."
-additional reporting PA
Collated second round scores & totals in the European Tour SA Open Championship, Pearl Valley Golf Estates, Paarl, Western Cape, South Africa
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
132 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 67 65
134 Damien McGrane 70 64, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 69 65, Ernie Els (Rsa) 67 67, Lee Westwood 66 68
135Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 71 64, Gareth Maybin 66 69, David Horsey 70 65
136Len Mattiace (USA) 70 66, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 64 72, Keith Horne (Rsa) 66 70, Branden Grace (Rsa) 69 67, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 70 66, Michael Hoey 70 66, Ross McGowan 66 70
137Martin Wiegele (Aut) 69 68, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 66 71, Chris Wood 68 69, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 66 71, Carlos Del moral (Spa) 69 68, George Coetzee (Rsa) 69
68
138 Rory McIlroy 70 68, John Mellor 70 68, Richie Ramsay 66 72, Ake Nilsson (Rsa) 66 72, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 70 68
139Richard Finch 69 70, Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 65 74, Trevor Fisher Jnr (Rsa) 72 67
140Merrick Bremner (Rsa) 71 69, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 68 72, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 69 71, Jake Roos (Rsa) 70 70, Simon Dyson 67 73, David Frost (Rsa) 68 72, Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 70 70, Lee Slattery 68 72, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 69 71, Antti Ahokas (Fin) 71 69, Callum Mccaulay 71 69, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 70 70, Peter Karmis (Rsa) 69 71, Tim Clark (Rsa) 67 73
141Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 72 69, Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 70 71, Darren Clarke 74 67, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 67 74, Gary Lockerbie 72 69, Adrian Ford (Rsa) 70 71, Dion Fourie (Rsa) 70 71, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 72 69, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 72 69, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 70 71
142Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 72 70, Estanislao Goya (Arg) 70 72, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 69 73, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 71 71, Johan Edfors (Swe) 72 70, Peter Hanson
(Swe) 74 68, Marco Ruiz (Par) 69 73, David Drysdale 74 68, Christiaan Basson (Rsa) 73 69, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 68 74
143Steve Basson (Rsa) 72 71, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 74 69, Alan McLean 71 72, Andrew Coltart 71 72, Birgir Hafthorsson (Ice) 71 72, Albert Pistorius (Rsa) 68 75, Wil Besseling (Ned) 75 68, Justin Rose 69 74, Tyrone Ferreira (Rsa) 74 69, Gary Murphy 72 71, Tyrone Van Aswegen (Rsa) 72 71, Ariel Canete (Arg) 73 70, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 69 74
The following players failed to make the cut
144Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa) 74 70, Anton Haig (Rsa) 70 74, Robert Dinwiddie 73 71, Scott Drummond 71 73, Grant Veenstra (Rsa) 73 71, Tc Charamba (Zim) 75
69, Bradford Vaughan (Rsa) 72 72, David Lynn 71 73, Sam Walker 75 69, Grant Muller (Rsa) 72 72, Warren Abery (Rsa) 70 74, Mark Foster 71 73, James Kamte (Rsa) 68 76, Neil Schietekat (Rsa) 72 72
145Alex Haindl (Rsa) 71 74, Andre Cruse (Rsa) 72 73, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 73 72, Bradley Davison (Rsa) 75 70, Alan Michell (Rsa) 70 75, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 72 73, Anthony Snobeck (Fra) 71 74, Christopher Doak 72 73
146Desvonde Botes (Rsa) 74 72, James Kingston (Rsa) 72 74, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe) 73 73, Danny Willett 74 72, Ryan Cairns (Zim) 75 71, Cameron Johnston
(Rsa) 76 70, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 74 72, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 73 73
147Brandon Pieters (Rsa) 73 74, Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 70 77, Jean Hugo (Rsa) 71 76, Omar Sandys (Rsa) 77 70, Rossouw Loubser (Rsa) 71 76, Seve Benson 74 73,
Dean Lambert (Rsa) 77 70, Deane Pappas (Rsa) 72 75
148Nic Henning (Rsa) 76 72, Andrew Curlewis (Rsa) 72 76, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 70 78, Euan Little 74 74, Gary Clark 70 78, Michiel Bothma (Rsa) 75 73,
Ross Wellington (Rsa) 76 72, Jake Redman (Rsa) 76 72, Ryan Tipping (Rsa) 71 77, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 73 75
149Christian Cevaer (Fra) 72 77, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 76 73, Inder Van Weerelt (Ned) 77 72, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 75 74, Vaughn Groenewald (Rsa) 74 75
150Alexandre Rocha (Bra) 78 72, Paul Waring 73 77, Chris Williams (Rsa) 76 74, Justin Walters (Rsa) 72 78, Mark Murless (Rsa) 75 75, Gavan Levenson (Rsa) 73
77
151Brett Liddle (Rsa) 73 78, Taco Remkes (Ned) 76 75, Doug McGuigan 77 74, Mark Williams (Rsa) 74 77
152Henk Alberts (Rsa) 78 74, Thabang Simon (Rsa) 80 72
153Josh Cunliffe (Rsa) 78 75, Derik Ferreira (Rsa) 78 75
155Wallie Coetsee (Rsa) 75 80
156Titch Moore (Rsa) 72 84, Shaun Norris (Rsa) 72 84, Teboho Sefatsa (Rsa) 75 81
157Heinrich Bruiners (Rsa) 81 76, Lindani Ndwandwe (Rsa) 84 73
158John Bele (Rsa) 79 79, Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 80 78
159Dean O'riley (Rsa) 74 85, David Dixon 76 83
160Mikhail Tewary (Rsa) 79 81
