No one is trying harder than Paul McGinley to make a Ryder Cup debut at the Belfry on September 28th. In ninth place in the chase for 10 automatic places, yesterday he looked certain to crash out of the TNT Dutch Open here when he lost a ball at the ninth, took seven and turned in 40.
But the Irishman battled back in 30, with the help of five brilliant birdies, and 141 saw him safely through.
He slipped in on the cut mark of one-under-par 141, along with David Higgins and Eamonn Darcy, to trail surprise leaders Ricardo Gonzales of Argentina and Greg Turner of New Zealand by nine strokes.
Padraig Harrington is best of the Irish after a second 67 left him on eight under par, two strokes off the lead. Darren Clarke is four shots further back after a 70.
And there was good news of Philip Walton, who is playing on an invitation. The Malahide golfer added a 68 to his opening 69 to put himself right into contention.
McGinley's late revival was crucial, with Andrew Coltart (10th on the list) round in 69 and Andrew Oldcorn (13th) shooting 65 for halfway scores of 135.
Bernhard Langer (14th) shot 67 and Spain's Miguel Jimenez (16th) 65, and they are also poised for a weekend charge on 136.
So is the former Italian Open champion Dean Robertson, 21st in the qualifying table after moving eight under par on 134 with a 68. He shares third place with Harrington.
Lee Westwood's temporary decline and fall continued yesterday as he slumped to eight over par, 18 strokes behind the halfway leaders. It was his fourth failure to make the weekend in his last six outings.
No one was more surprised than John Hawksworth, who got into the event only after 15 other players turned down the chance and found himself partnering the reigning European number one.
The former Walker Cup player, who spent last week as a radio commentator at the Open near his home in Lytham St Annes, outscored Westwood by seven strokes over two rounds.
Hawksworth, who finished 98th in last year's Challenge Tour order of merit after mixing tournament play with radio work and running a corporate entertainment company called Golf To A Tee, could have been forgiven if his knees were knocking when he saw the pairing.
He had seized the chance to replace the injured Australian Adam Scott after driving to Swindon for a smaller event, turning round and heading home before getting up at 4.0am to drive to Manchester for a flight to Amsterdam.
"I arrived only 25 minutes before my tee-off with no time to hit balls, so I've got to be happy with shooting 74 and 69," he admitted. "Lee's hitting it okay and making some birdies but his confidence generally seems a bit low."
With the Ryder Cup only two months away, captain Sam Torrance must be concerned at Westwood's fifth missed cut in nine starts.
Westwood, languishing in 80th place in this year's order of merit, declined to comment as he sped off for his flight home, but Hawksworth insisted: "He's become a dad and moved house this year but he'll be fine against the Americans - matchplay is a totally different game."
