GOLF EUROPEAN OPEN:THE TWO amigos jousted and jested, each looking totally relaxed with the task at hand as they set about chasing down Ross Fisher.

For Sergio Garcia, who has flirted with major success, and Graeme McDowell, who aspires to do so, yesterday's second round of the European Open at the London Club was as friendly a round of golf as they could have wished for.

Behind the conviviality, though, lurked intent. The British Open is just around the corner, and nothing warms a player's heart more than going into a major championship as a winner; and this is a big tournament in its own right, with a €3 million purse and €506,392 to the winner.

Now minds begin to race and muscles start to tighten. Now there's no place to hide.

On another day seemingly tailor-made for low scores, with birdies and eagles in abundance, Fisher produced a 68 to go with his opening 63 for 131, 13-under-par, to lead the way.

But that left him only one stroke ahead of McDowell as the 28-year-old from Portrush, looking for his second win of the season, again looked at ease in the company of Garcia as he added a five-under 67 to his first day's 65.

For his part, Garcia, prior to rushing off to Wimbledon to cheer on his friend Rafa Nadal, resurrected his chances with a best-of-the-day 64 for 135 that catapulted him 27 places up the leader-board to be alone in third.

So, all in all, the ingredients are there for an intriguing weekend with a course set-up to encourage attacking play, tempting those brave (and able) enough to go low.

Of course, there were casualties, among them Darren Clarke who had missed the cut - which fell on one-under - by some three shots, only to learn later that he had signed for a wrong score on his finishing hole and had the ignominy of being disqualified instead.

Nick Dougherty, who holds down the 10th and last automatic place on Europe's Ryder Cup team, also missed the cut by one after it fell on 141.

For a time, Pádraig Harrington had looked in danger of falling on the wrong side of the cut line. However, an eagle three on the 15th, where he hit a seven-iron approach to three feet, allowed him to breathe a little easier. In the end, the British Open champion signed for a 70, for 142, that at least enabled him to survive into the weekend and offered the tantalising prospect of him being able to gatecrash the party if he can find a way to get the ball into the hole. His putter, it seems, is still behaving like a bold child.

There was a measure of frustration for Harrington with his inability to score as he would like and, after his round, he claimed: "I'm definitely hitting the ball better than I've ever hit it in my career. But that's a great lesson for me, (because) I'd rather have the erratic play with the good short game than this solid play and having 10- and 15-footers for birdies that don't add up at the end of the day."

It's been a decent tournament for the Irish tour players, with McDowell (second), Paul McGinley (fifth) and Rory McIlroy (11th) all in strong positions to challenge as the event enters the business end of proceedings.

McDowell, for one, has enjoyed his time playing alongside Garcia.

"My goal was to go out there today and just keep the foot on the pedal. Sergio's one of the best ball-strikers in the world, and it is easy to feed off that kind of ball-striking.

"But I don't fear opponents. The only guy on the golf course that I have to be scared of is me. I think I'm the scariest person out there on the golf course and I work very hard on the mental side of the game. I feel like I'm controlling myself well."

After getting off the blocks fast, with two birdies in his opening three holes, holing from 25 feet on the 11th and 20 feet on the 12th, McDowell followed with further birdies at the 15th, second, fourth and seventh holes. His only blip came on the 17th, his eighth, when his four-iron approach was pulled left of the green and he failed to get up and down.

He couldn't help but be impressed with Garcia yesterday, though.

"He's capable of doing things like he did today, shooting a 64 in a canter. But I feel I've got the game to compete. I don't hit it 330 yards like some of the guys, but I do feel my total game is good enough to compete and I guess that bit of confidence helps me feel comfortable in the company of these guys."

And of the weekend challenge? "You know, this course is fitting my eye. So, fingers crossed, I'll go out, keep my head down, and all I can do is control my own ball and hope that I have the lowest number come Sunday."