Paul McGinley's "all or nothing" bid to qualify for next month's Seve Ballesteros Trophy almost ended in the Madeira Island Open yesterday.
The 33-year-old Dubliner laboured to a second round 77 at Santo da Serra for a three over par halfway total of 147 but a vital birdie at the 18th helped him make the cut. McGinley now trails leader Niclas Fasth, of Sweden, by nine shots and needs a spectacular charge up the leaderboard over the weekend.
McGinley must finish in the top three to earn the £20,000 which would take him above Wales' Phil Price in the Order of Merit in their battle to claim the last automatic spot in Colin Montgomerie's Britain and Ireland team at Sunningdale.
"I was haemorrhaging badly," McGinley admitted ruefully. "I knew I needed to birdie the last and so I was pleased to hole that putt from 12 feet. I didn't play particularly badly, but the greens are impossible. I had 38 putts and I felt like I only hit one bad putt. "I don't want to sound like I'm moaning because I'm sure it's the same for everybody, but it's an important week for me and it's unfortunate to be playing on greens like this. I'm going to have to do something special at the weekend, but at least I made the cut and gave myself a chance."
Fasth retained his overnight lead after adding a second round 72 to his opening 66 with Diego Borrego of Spain, who carded a superb 67, and Austrian Markus Brier in joint second on five under.
A six-strong group of players were a shot further back on four under, including English trio Jim Payne, John Bickerton and Andrew Beal.
Bickerton carded a second straight 70 in an up and down round containing six birdies and four bogeys in his last event before the Ballesteros Trophy.
"It was a bit of a mixed bag," the 30-year-old said. "One thing about this course is that you are going to make mistakes, you just have to grin and bear it and bide your time.
"I'm really looking forward to Sunningdale. I think it's going to be big, it's not the Ryder Cup yet, but hopefully it will build up. It will be great fun to play against the guys you play with every week."
Beal was one of a handful of players not troubled by the patchy greens, needing just 27 putts in his second successive 70.
The 34-year-old from Salisbury had five birdies and three bogeys in what he described as "a bit of a scramble", but was in a good position to better his previous best finish on the tour, a third place here in 1998.
The cut fell at four over par and claimed the notable scalps of five-time major winner Seve Ballesteros, former European number one Ronan Rafferty and amateur champion Graeme Storm.
