GOLF/ANDALUCIAN OPEN:MORE THAN 20 players are separated by only four strokes at the halfway stage of the Open de Andalucia in Malaga, but the event has already lost many of its big names.
Swede Rikard Karlberg, who does not even have a European Tour card, shares top spot on eight under par with Dane Jeppe Huldahl and Dutchman Maarten Lafeber.
However, Colin Montgomerie, Jose Maria Olazabal, Darren Clarke and tournament promoter Miguel Angel Jimenez all failed to survive the cut, along with Australian Richard Green, who had to win to have a chance of qualifying for the US Masters in two weeks.
Indeed, of the six Irish players competing, only Paul McGinley made it into the weekend, right on the mark of one under par.
Shane Lowry, playing in his first tournament after a long lay-off through injury, shot a second round 80 to prop up the field.
Karlberg, who is playing on an invitation, followed up his opening 65 with a 67 and would have led on his own but for three-putting the 16th late in the day.
Former Wales Open champion Huldahl had set the mark with a second successive 66, while Lafeber, whose only Tour win came in the 2003 Dutch Open, shot 65.
Scotland’s 1999 British Open champion Paul Lawrie is one behind along with England’s Jamie Elson.
Green’s chances of climbing into the world’s top-50 and so earning a second appearance at Augusta were slim even if he had taken the title on Sunday.
But the left-hander had a second successive 71 for two over and missed the cut by three, as did Montgomerie after a 72 that means the 47-year-old’s search for a first top-10 finish since June 2008 goes on.
Olazabal, the Scot’s successor as Ryder Cup captain, and Clarke bowed out on one over.
Andalucian Open
Parador de Malaga, Spain
(British unless stated, Irish in bold, par 70)
132 – Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 66 66, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 67 65, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 65 67 133 – Jamie Elson 65 68, Paul Lawrie 66 67, Tetsuji Hiratsuka (Jpn) 66 67 134 – Gabriel Canizares (Spa) 70 64, Mark Foster 67 67, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 67 67, Oscar Floren (Swe) 65 69, Florian Fritsch (Ger) 66 68 135 – Anthony Wall 67 68, Robert Rock 65 70, Marcel Siem (Ger) 68 67, Stuart Manley 69 66 136 – Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 67 69, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 68 68, Richard Finch 70 66, Phillip Price 68 68, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 71 65, Johan Edfors (Swe) 65 71, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 71 65 137 – Christian Nilsson (Swe) 68 69, Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 69 68, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 69 68, George Coetzee (Rsa) 69 68, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 68 69, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 67 70, Alvaro Salto (Spa) 68 69, Jamie Donaldson 70 67, Tano Goya (Arg) 67 70, Barry Lane 70 67 138 – Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 69 69, Steve Lewton 69 69, Liam Bond 70 68, Joost Luiten (Ned) 69 69, David Horsey 67 71, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 69 69, Rhys Davies 69 69, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 69 69, Carl Suneson (Spa) 68 70, Alexander Noren (Swe) 70 68, Romain Wattel (Fra) 69 69, Pablo Martin (Spa) 67 71 139 – Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 69 70, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 67 72, Kenneth Ferrie 70 69, Carlos Del Morral (Spa) 74 65, Scott Jamieson 69 70, Anthony Kang (US) 69 70, Gary Boyd 71 68, Stephen Dodd 69 70, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 69 70, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 68 71, Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 71 68, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 67 72, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 70 69, Gregory Havret (Fra) 70 69, Martin Wiegele (Aut) 71 68, Mark Tullo (Chi) 68 71, Matthew Nixon 72 67, David Howell 74 65, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 71 68, Richard McEvoy 69 70, Mark Brown (Nzl) 72 67, Julio Zapata (Arg) 70 69, Jason Knutzon (US) 69 70, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 70 69, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 71 68, Paul McGinley 68 71, Alexandre Kaleka (Fra) 69 70.
Missed cut: 140 – Fredrik Ohlsson (Swe) 71 69, Steve Webster 70 70, Daniel Gaunt (Aus) 71 69, Robert Dinwiddie 70 70, Matthew Zions (Aus) 69 71, Lloyd Saltman 73 67, Manuel Quiros (Spa) 70 70, Bradley Dredge 69 71 141 – Damien McGrane 70 71, Soren Hansen (Den) 72 69, Nick Dougherty 67 74, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 72 69, Darren Clarke 69 72, John Bickerton 71 70, David Lynn 72 69, James Morrison 69 72, Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 70 71, Lee Slattery 71 70, Stephen Gallacher 69 72, David Dixon 70 71, Raul Quiros (Spa) 66 75, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 73 68 142 – Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 73 69, Colin Montgomerie 70 72, Shaun Norris (Rsa) 71 71, Robert Coles 71 71, Steven O’Hara 73 69, Graeme Storm 71 71, Seve Benson 74 68, Richard Green (Aus) 71 71, Keith Horne (Rsa) 67 75, Michael Hoey 71 71, Thomas Levet (Fra) 72 70 143 – Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 71 72, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 73 70, Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa) 71 72, Joel Sjoholm (Swe) 74 69, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 70 73, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 67 76, Danny Willett 72 71 144 – Christian Cevaer (Fra) 74 70, Chris Wood 70 74, John Parry 71 73, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 74 70, George Murray 73 71, Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spa) 73 71, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 71 73, Simon Wakefield 71 73, Matt Haines 72 72, Tim Sluiter (Ned) 73 71, Santiago Luna (Spa) 74 70, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 77 67 145 – Richard Bland 72 73, Peter Whiteford 74 71, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 73, Gareth Maybin 68 77, SSP Chowrasia (Ind) 74 71, Simon Dyson 71 74, Simon Khan 73 72 146 – Thomas Norret (Den) 76 70, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 75 71 147 – Michael Campbell (Nzl) 74 73, Oliver Wilson 74 73, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 74 73, Pedro Oriol (Spa) 74 73 148 – Juan Antonio Bragulat (Spa) 75 73 149 – Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 73 76, Oliver Fisher 73 76 153 – Andreas Harto (Den) 78 75 155 – Shane Lowry 75 80.
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