Golf:As one 40-year-old Irishman was making waves on the other side of the Atlantic, another moved through the field at Andalucian Open in Marbella to within touching distance of the lead at the halfway stage. Damien McGrane's second round of 67 took the Meath man to seven under par and a share of second place at Aloha, one behind the unheralded Spaniard Eduardo de la Riva.
McGrane, without a win on the European Tour since breaking his duck at the China Open in 2008, has tournament host Miguel Angel Jimenez for company on seven under while first round pacesetter Matteo Manassero and Pablo Larrazabal are also just one off the lead.
Starting on the 10th tee, McGane’s round sparked into life just after the turn as he dropped four birdie putts in five holes to put himself firmly in contention. He would blot his copybook with a bogey at the sixth but finished with a flourish with at three on the ninth to sign for a richly deserved 67. Michael Hoey is also in with a shout heading into the weekend, the Belfast man just a shot further back on six under while Gareth Maybin cannot be discounted on four under.
Jimenez, who had to plough a significant amount of his own money into the event to make up the prize money after struggling to attract sponsors, would become the European Tour’s oldest-ever winner this weekend should he recoup some of his own investment.
Des Smyth, then 49, currently holds the record after his win at the 2001 Madeira Island Open but Jimenez would be 39 days older than the Louth man if he claims his 19th European Tour title on Sunday evening.
De la Riva, ranked only 610th in the world and not even a member of the circuit, is the surprise halfway leader. The 29-year-old from Barcelona, one of eight players given places in the event off the Spanish Order of Merit, stands eight under par after rounds of 67 and 69.
He has been to the qualifying school nine times and the only time he made it through was a decade ago, but last October he had his best-ever finish of third at the Madrid Masters.
“I had a poor start,” de la Riva said of today’s round. “I missed a three footer on the first and bogeyed the second from 20 feet. I was beginning to lose confidence, but then I hit it close and made birdie on the third - that settled me.
“I am very pleased with my birdie on 18 which is a challenging hole. I took a five wood and four iron over the water. I played well off the tee but the key today were my shots to the green from 100 to 150 yards.”
Among those on six under is England’s Oliver Wilson, nine times a runner-up without ever winning. One of those near-misses came when he lost a play-off to Jimenez in the 2008 BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. He went on to earn a Ryder Cup debut later the same season, but lost his card last year after slumping to 130th on the money list.
Wilson, playing on an invitation from Jimenez, admits he took “a lot of flak” for not going back to the qualifying school in December, but he insists that was because he put his health first. The 31-year-old suffered from stomach ulcers and parasites from drinking water in Bahrain early in 2011, but is back to fitness now after finally having his system flushed out.
“It would be nice not to have to rely on invites, but that’s the position I’m in,” he explained after his 67. “Miguel’s been fantastic. It means a lot, especially when it’s another player.”
Collated second round scores
(Gbr & Irl unless stated,
Irishin bold, par 72)
136Eduardo De La Riva (Spa) 67 69
137 Damien McGrane69 68, Tommy Fleetwood 68 69, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 69 68, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 64 73, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 68 69
138Robert Rock 69 69, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 67 71, Oliver Wilson 71 67, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 68 70, David Lynn 70 68, Michael Hoey69 69, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 70 68, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 73 65
139Alex Haindl (Rsa) 68 71, Andrea Pavan (Ita) 70 69, Mark Foster 69 70, Graeme Storm 70 69, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 69 70, Simon Khan 70 69
140 Gareth Maybin72 68, Marcel Siem (Ger) 69 71, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 69 71, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 69 71, Julien Quesne (Fra) 68 72, Lloyd Kennedy 67 73, Oliver Fisher 71 69, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 67 73, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 69 71, Gregory Havret (Fra) 71 69
141Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 72 69, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 69 72, Soren Hansen (Den) 73 68, Phillip Price 69 72, Andy Sullivan 74 67, Mike Weir (Can) 68 73, Alastair Forsyth 71 70, Tano Goya (Arg) 72 69, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 71 70, Bradley Dredge 74 67
142David Drysdale 71 71, David Horsey 70 72, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 70 72, Borja Etchart (Spa) 71 71, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 73 69, Simon Thornton72 70, Pedro Oriol (Spa) 70 72
143Richie Ramsay 72 71, Joost Luiten (Ned) 72 71, Ricardo Santos (Por) 71 72, Matthew Baldwin 72 71, Javi Colomo (Spa) 70 73, Gary Boyd 70 73, David Dixon 73 70, Shane Lowry71 72, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 70 73, Keith Horne (Rsa) 73 70, Adrien Bernadet (Fra) 73 70, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 70 73
144Andrew Johnston 71 73, George Murray 72 72, Gary Orr 71 73, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 70 74, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 72 72, Anthony Wall 67 77, Wil Besseling (Ned) 73 71, Stephen Gallacher 75 69, Marc Warren 74 70, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 73 71, Santiago Luna (Spa) 70 74
The following players failed to make the cut
145Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 69 76, Christian Nilsson (Swe) 72 73, Jamie Moul 76 69, Edouard Dubois (Fra) 74 71, Ignacio Elvira mijares (Spa) 70 75, Johan Edfors (Swe) 76 69, Brett Rumford (Aus) 71 74, Jordi Garcia (Spa) 70 75, Federico Colombo (Ita) 74 71, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 73 72, Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 75 70, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 73 72
146Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 73 73, Richard Bland 73 73, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 74 72, Augustin Domingo (Spa) 71 75, Robert Coles 73 73, Matthew Nixon 74 72, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 75 71, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 71 75, Peter Lawrie78 68, Kenneth Ferrie 71 75, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 71 75, Daniel Denison 74 72, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 73 73, Reinier Saxton (Ned) 72 74, Manuel Quiros (Spa) 73 73
147Christian Cevaer (Fra) 75 72, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 75 72, Richard McEvoy 76 71, Danny Willett 75 72, Warren Abery (Rsa) 73 74, Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spa) 77 70, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 74 73, Knut Borsheim (Nor) 72 75, Taco Remkes (Ned) 74 73, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 73 74, Sam Little 73 74, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 72 75
148Chris Wood 75 73, Matthew Zions (Aus) 75 73, Scott Pinckney (USA) 73 75, Thomas Levet (Fra) 75 73, James Morrison 73 75
149Steve Webster 74 75, James Kingston (Rsa) 74 75, Colin Montgomerie 73 76, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 75 74, Oscar Floren (Swe) 74 75, Sam Hutsby 77 72, Thomas Norret (Den) 76 73, Carl Suneson (Spa) 73 76
150Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 74 76, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 74 76, Joel Sjoholm (Swe) 76 74, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 73 77, Rhys Davies 78 72, Bernd Ritthammer (Ger) 74 76, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 72 78, Lee Slattery 74 76
151Craig Lee 76 75, Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 78 73, Rich Beem (USA) 74 77, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 72 79
152Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 74 78, Markus Brier (Aut) 75 77, Peter Gustafsson (Swe) 77 75, Matthew Southgate 77 75, Pablo Martin (Spa) 75 77, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 74 78
153Peter Whiteford 77 76, Romain Wattel (Fra) 72 81
154Antonio Hortal (Spa) 76 78, Steven O'Hara 74 80
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