McGinley still in with a chance

Paul McGinley ended a run of nine consecutive rounds in the 70s to put himself in contention for the closing rounds of the Sarazen World Open in Atlanta.

McGinley, who began his second round at one over par, recorded five birdies and just one bogey in yesterday's second round to move into a share of 13th place at three-under par following his round of 68.

Edward Fryatt and former US PGA Champion Bob Tway lead the world-beating field of golfers. Fryatt added a five-under-par 67 to lead the $2 million tournament at 10-under par and Tway, who led after the first round, fell back into second place at eight under after his second day 70.

Scotland's Andrew Coltart, who finished runner-up to Darren Clarke in Spain last Sunday, and Argentinian Ricardo Gonzalez are tied in third place at seven under.

McGinley rugged up in pullovers and woolen head gear, teed off in the second group of the day but soon warmed to the wintry early morning conditions.

He recorded his first birdie at the second and then a second birdie at the par-four sixth, and then for the second day running the Dubliner birdied the par-four 11th.

But also in keeping with his day one effort, McGinley bogeyed the par-five 14th for a second time.

Birdies at the 16th and 18th finished off a fine performance for McGinley, who, along with Padraig Harrington, will travel to New Zealand in a fortnight's time to defend the World Cup of Golf.

"I played well out there today, as I did yesterday despite a 73, but this round today has got me back into the tournament which I needed to do," he said.

McGinley's only shortcoming over the two days has been an inability to come to grips with the four par fives.

"My short game has been letting me down for the last few days," he said. "My wedge play is poor and I am one over par for the par fives this week, which is something you just can't do around here."

Harrington, who began his round at two under dropped one shot on day two to finish back in a share of 20th place at one under par. He is still in with a reasonable chance of securing a decent pay cheque come tomorrow afternoon.

Fryatt's score yesterday showed that he is not the only member of the family capable of spectacular scoring feats.

His father Jim's name appears in the record books as the scorer of the fastest goal in the English Football League, which came in four seconds playing for Bradford Park Avenue against Tranmere in the fourth division on April 25th, 1965.

Fryatt senior, whose professional career also included stints with Charlton and Southport, took the Rochdale-born Edward, aged four, with him when he crossed the Atlantic to play in the North American football league. Bespectacled and bearded Edward, now 27 and 6ft 4in, grew up in Las Vegas - where his father works on golf-course machinery - and campaigns on the Asian Tour where he earned his Sarazen start with victories in this year's China and Malaysian Opens.

A business-marketing graduate from the University of Las Vegas, he has also won in India and Indonesia and said: "Although you have to book your own hotels and flights, take care of visas and watch what you eat and drink out there, I wouldn't trade the experience for anything."

He has a British passport and would love one day to play in the Ryder Cup but is not sure whether his thick Californian accent would be off-putting to his team-mates.

"When I went back to try to qualify for the Open at Royal Birkdale, people in Southport remembered my dad playing there and it made me proud," he said.

"There's no pressure on me because nobody knows who I am," said the man who hopes to secure his US Tour card at the fifth attempt in a fortnight's time.

He rolled in three 40-foot putts for birdies - "I was just trying to lay up" - to move into an early two-stroke lead over Tway.

Donald Panoz, the owner of the Chateau Elan venue, announced yesterday that the Sarazen championship would not be the last after all. Its dates have been taken next year by a new World Tour event but Panoz has agreed with the European Tour executive director Ken Schofield that the event will go ahead in 1999.