Ireland's Paul McGinley remained well in contention for the Spanish Open title yesterday after he added a 68 to his opening 67 to lie in joint fourth place on nine under, four behind leaders Peter Lawrie and Jarmo Sandelin.
McGinley, who had four birdies in his round, also eagled the 507-yard par five 10th courtesy of a drive, three iron and 30 ft putt. However, some of that good work was undone with a double bogey six at the 455-yard par four 14th after his second shot finished behind a tree. From there he could only chip out and it was to get worse as it took him three putts to get down.
"I played solidly, I'm very pleased. It's tough to take a double bogey when the score is good, but I played really well. Everything about my game was steady. I'm looking forward to the weekend and I'm feeling confident," said McGinley afterwards.
Des Smyth, meanwhile, who opened with a 74, went 10 shots better yesterday to finish the day on six under. But the good news for the home fans was that 19-year-old Sergio Garcia made it through to the weekend on his professional debut despite a 73 and Seve Ballesteros survived the cut for the first time in seven starts this year.
Ballesteros has gone five years without a win anywhere, is outside the world's top 450 and has a body which he confesses is "falling to pieces". But his 69, containing four birdies and a 15-foot eagle putt, lifted him to two under.
Meanwhile, Lawrie and Sandelin both repeated their opening rounds of 66 and on 12 under, they lead Jamie Spence by one.
Lawrie, the 30-year-old from Aberdeen, has already won the Qatar Masters this season, and the £100,000 first prize tomorrow could take him to sixth in the Ryder Cup table.
He had nine birdies, the best of them when he came within four inches of a hole-in-one at the 180yard 17th.
Big-hitting Sandelin is currently 13th in the Ryder Cup race - five places ahead of Lawrie - and his 66 began with four straight birdies. Spence, seeking his first victory since a closing 60 gave him the 1992 European Masters, led by one with three to play, but in a strengthening wind bogeyed the 16th and 18th.
Newly crowned US Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal failed to make the cut on one under after improving by only one stroke on his first round 72.
Scoring conditions were so good at the Greater Greensboro Classic in north Carolina yesterday that Jesper Parnevik's nine-under-par 653 and record score at the midway point gave the Swede only u a two-stroke cushion on his nearest pursuers Jim Furyk and Jeff Maggert.
