McGinley stays focused

Some days you grind it out, you just play the psychological battle with the course and escape to the sanctuary of the recorder's hut. Yesterday, that's what Paul McGinley did. So too Philip Walton. And Padraig Harrington. For their physical resilience and mental fortitude, all three were rewarded with the sort of innerglow that Readybrek gives to kids.

"I really battled today," remarked McGinley. "I didn't play as well as I have been (playing), but I'm pleased. Nobody's going to rifle through the course and I'm certainly well in the hunt." His words were spoken before lunch - after a 72 for a three-under-par midway total of 141 - and, if anything, his position had improved some hours later by the time the final putt of the second round fell.

Just two shots off the pace set by a sextet of players including Darren Clarke, McGinley - top Irishman in Ballybunion last week - had some reason to be satisfied. In fact, two birdies in the closing three holes, allied with a fine par on the ninth (his last) after the drive rebounded off the tree that dominates the middle of the fairway, provided just reward for his efforts.

"You have to concentrate right to the end on this course. Even the so-called easier holes are starting to show their teeth. There is no room at all for complacency and, on a day like this, you just battle your way around," he said. McGinley battled alright, and his final two birdies, both 20 footers, on the seventh and eight (his 16th and 17th) exemplified his perseverance on a day when such qualities were essential.

No one has had to show as much resilience in recent months as Walton. And there was one stage in yesterday's round when it must have seemed that the old demons were reappearing. Having started on the 10th, three successive bogeys from the 15th brought him back to level par for the tournament. "I was struggling, not hitting it well, and I made a decision to really hit my shots," said Walton.

The simple philosophy worked. While others dropped shots left, right and centre - and the breeze turned into a wind - Walton completed the back nine (the front nine on the course) in 33 strokes, a feat only bettered in the afternoon by Bradley Dredge. Walton's birdies on that homeward run came at the fourth, when he splashed out to 12 inches after leaving his three-wood approach in a greenside trap, and at the seventh when he punched a nine-iron to 25 feet.

"I hear the wind is going to blow over the weekend," said Walton, who salvaged a 73 to be on two-under-par 142, adding: "You won't hear me complain if it does!"

Harrington's score, meanwhile, didn't adequately reflect how well he was hitting the ball. "It's the first time I can remember hitting every fairway. In fact, I have never hit the ball better but it was horribly frustrating not to take the chances I was creating," he said.

Yet, it was a sign of Harrington's confidence in himself that, on the last, faced with a shot of 209 yards to the front of the green - 245 to the pin - with much of the carry over water, he went down the shaft on a four-wood and hit it to four feet. He rolled in the eagle putt, signed for a 71 (144), and announced: "Five shots off? I'm not out of this. That eagle has made such a difference."

Despite an anxious few hours (his bogey finish actually put him in 83rd place when he completed his round), Des Smyth survived to the weekend on the cut mark of three-over-par, but Gary Murphy had a nightmare finish which included two double-bogeys in his final three holes to miss out by one.