Lawrie moves into contention

GOLF:NO ONE has made a successful defence of the Spanish Open since Max Faulkner way back in 1953. But if Dubliner Peter Lawrie completes the double tomorrow it will taste particularly sweet. The 35-year-old, who burst into third place yesterday with six birdies in eight holes, is not best pleased about a lack of recognition this week.

Lawrie, who goes into the third round at PGA Catalunya near Girona three strokes behind France’s Thomas Levet, said after his 66: “There’s not one picture of me anywhere. I thought I would at least deserve something – it’s disappointing and a little bit of motivation.

“Someone said yesterday about me being the ex-Spanish Open champion. I said ‘No, I am the current Spanish Open champion.’ I just have to try to play well and let the scores make the point.”

The pre-event publicity was dominated by John Daly’s golfing comeback after four months out and Colin Montgomerie’s late decision to play.

But Montgomerie is already out of the event after crashing to an 81 in the much windier afternoon conditions and Daly is deep in the pack on two under.

Levet, Dane Soren Hansen and Lawrie had things much calmer before lunch and were never likely to be dislodged from the top three spots.

With Hansen double-bogeying the last for a 70, seven worse than his course record-breaking opening round, Levet leads by two at 13-under-par 131 thanks to a 67.

US PGA TOUR:As Pádraig Harrington slumped to a three-over-par 75, Zach Johnson and George McNeill shared the early clubhouse lead on seven-under-par 137 midway through the second day at the Quail Hollow Championship in Charlotte after both shot impressive second rounds.

Johnson fired a five-under-par 67 and McNeill a 68 to end the round one stroke clear of a trio of players.

Camilo Villegas shot a 67 to reach the halfway point on six under, level with Phil Mickelson and Jason Dufner, both of whom could only manage a 71.

Harrington, on 148 after a round that included three birdies, four bogeys and a double bogey at the 11th, and Justin Rose were set to miss the cut.

CHALLENGE TOUR:Michael McGeady will carry the Irish hopes at the Moroccan Classic after surviving the cut in El Jadida.

Donegal’s McGeady, winner of the Wales Challenge last season, carded a second round 74 to just finish inside the cut line on four over par 148.

Gareth Shaw, playing in the final group, dropped three shots in his last three holes to fail to make it to the weekend. Richard Kilpatrick signed for a 77 and also failed to make the cut, finishing seven over par.

England’s Robert Coles is the man to catch after a superb five-under-par 67 moved him three shots clear of Australian Matthew Zions on eight-under-par 136.

AMATEUR:Shane Lowry looked almost as happy to have avoided the bunkers as he was with his pace-setting, four-under-par 66 in the first round in the Lytham Trophy yesterday.

“I’ve never done that before on a course like this where there are so many of them,” said the 22-year-old Walker Cup squad player from Esker Hills.

Minutes after posting his card, heavy rain rendered the task of escaping from some of the 203 cavernous sand traps dotted around the Royal Lytham and St Annes links much more difficult. A stiff, cold wind added to the challenge, and even Lowry, third in the tournament last year and not the shortest of hitters, was forced to lay up on the 497-yard sixth.

It cost him a stroke, but he retrieved it with a 20-foot birdie putt two holes later to turn for home level.

He picked up shots at the 10th and 11th, then took his punishment with a bogey after missing the green at the short 12th. On an adventurous back nine, which included a lonesome par he described as a “good save” at the 15th, he rolled in four more birdies, saving the best to the last where his gap-wedge approach landed three inches from the hole.

He goes into the second round two clear of England’s Dale Whitnell and Darren Wright who had four birdies in his 68.

Andrew Hogan, from Newlands, double bogeyed the sixth in his 71, but Cian Curley signed for an 80. Castle’s Dara Lenihan signed for 76, while other Walker Cup hopefuls Paul Cutler, from Portstewart, had 79 and Royal Dublin’s Niall Kearney dropped four shots on the last three holes in an 82.

EUROPEAN TOUR OPEN DE ESPANA

(PGA Golf de Catalunya, Girona, Spain)

(Irish in bold, British unless stated, par 72): 131 - T Levet (Fra) 64 67 133 - S Hansen (Den) 63 70 134 - Peter Lawrie(Irl) 68 66 136 - C Wood 66 70, A Canizares (Spa) 67 69 137 - S Davis 72 65, T Bjorn (Den) 70 67, M Siem (Ger) 67 70, R Cabrera Bello (Spa) 70 67, Paul McGinley(Irl) 70 67 138 - S Dodd 69 69, JM Lara (Spa) 65 73 139 - F Molinari (Ita) 69 70, C Cevaer (Fra) 72 67, J Lucquin (Fra) 68 71, P Broadhurst 70 69 140 - G Orr 68 72, C Schwartzel (Rsa) 67 73, M Carlsson (Swe) 71 69, S Bebb 69 71, G Storm 69 71, A Quiros (Spa) 72 68, P Linhart (Spa) 71 69, M Higley 71 69, P Lawrie 68 72, S Luna (Spa) 69 71, P Martin (Spa) 68 72 141 - S Kjeldsen (Den) 69 72, C Macaulay 65 76, S Gallacher 71 70, J Sandelin (Swe) 66 75, F Zanotti (Par) 71 70, M Foster 69 72, G Fdez-Castano (Spa) 72 69, P Larrazabal (Spa) 71 70 142 - J Gonnet (Fra) 72 70, S Webster 74 68, D Horsey 72 70, D Lynn 69 73, J Lima (Por) 68 74, J Daly (USA) 70 72, J Sarasti (Spa) 73 69, A Tadini (Ita) 71 71, G Bourdy (Fra) 71 71, M Tunnicliff 72 70, R McGowan 71 71, F Andersson Hed (Swe) 71 71 143 - J Are Larsen (Nor) 67 76, A Nilsson (Rsa) 70 73, A Garcia-Heredia (Spa) 74 69, P Edberg (Swe) 69 74, D Vancsik (Arg) 68 75, R Rock 73 70, MA Jimenez (Spa) 69 74, R Quiros (Spa) 68 75, O Henningsson (Swe) 70 73, M Quiros (Spa) 69 74, B Dredge 72 71 144 - C

Del Moral (Spa) 73 71, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 70 74, E Goya (Arg) 75 69, P Price 73 71, J Garcia Pinto (Spa) 73 71, R Echenique (Arg) 73 71, S O'Hara 72 72, A McLardy (Rsa) 72 72, I Pyman 68 76, Gary Murphy(Irl) 70 74, M Millar (Aus) 69 75, N Fasth (Swe) 75 69, J Kamte (Rsa) 73 71.

Missed the cut:145 - A Velasco (Spa) 71 74, Damien McGrane(Irl) 70 75, T Remkes (Ned) 72 73, B Grace (Rsa) 73 72, C Rodiles (Spa) 68 77, K Ferrie 73 72, A Snobeck (Fra) 69 76 146 - F Valera (Spa) 69 77, A Hansen (Den) 69 77, L Claverie (Spa) 67 79, B Barham 69 77, B Hafthorsson (Ice) 71 75, D Willett 76 70, A Wall 73 73, JE Morgan 76 70, E Tage Johansen (Nor) 70 76, M Warren 75 71, M Jonzon (Swe) 72 74, B Wiesberger (Aut) 74 72, S Little 74 72, P Erice ibanez (Spa) 72 74, Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa) 73 73, R Jacquelin (Fra) 70 76, S Walker 69 77, D Drysdale 68 78, C Suneson (Spa) 75 71, C Doak 69 77 147 - Jonathan Caldwell(NIrl) 70 77, J Haeggman (Swe) 74 73, A Tampion (Aus) 70 77, A Salto (Spa) 72 75, M Curtain (Aus) 70 77, W Ormsby (Aus) 72 75, G Havret (Fra) 68 79, C Nilsson (Swe) 72 75, J Huldahl (Den) 73 74, R Ramsay 69 78, P Baker 77 70, A Coltart 75 72, M Lafeber (Ned) 75 72, J Colomo (Spa) 71 76, G Lockerbie 75 72, J Donaldson 73 74, R Saxton (Ned) 71 76 148 - A Kang (USA) 74 74, U Van Den Berg (Rsa) 76 72, G Paddison (Nzl) 75 73, S Barr (Aus) 68 80, K Webber (US) 70 78 149 - P Whiteford 75 74, A McLean 72 77, P Waring 78 71, J Bickerton 77 72, S Wakefield 73 76 150 - M Lundberg (Swe) 75 75, P Sjoland (Swe) 76 74, H Otto (Rsa) 73 77, G Houston 72 78, M Cayeux (Zim) 72 78, S Khan 76 74, A Rocha (Bra) 69 81, L Slattery 73 77, I Van Weerelt (Ned) 73 77, P Archer 77 73 151 - J Mellor 71 80, S Nogue (Spa) 77 74, S Manley 77 74, C Pigem (Spa) 71 80, P Oriol (Spa) 73 78 152 - G Clark 75 77, W Besseling (Ned) 73 79, F Colombo (Ita) 71 81, P Bech (Spa) 73 79, I Garrido (Spa) 74 78 153 - M Wiegele (Aut) 74 79, J Garcia avis (Spa) 76 77, A Ahokas (Fin) 74 79, C Montgomerie 72 81, A Forsyth 74 79, O Fisher 74 79, Michael Hoey(NIrl) 77 76 154 - B Gonzalez (Spa) 77 77 155 - R Bland 76 79 161 - S Gutierrez (Spa) 80 81.