McGrane stays well in the hunt

Golf Caltex Masters: With his 500th European Tour event looming, England's Barry Lane finds himself in contention for his first victory in a decade.

Lane carded a superb second round 65 in the Caltex Masters in Singapore, his 496th event since joining the tour in 1982.

It gave the 43-year-old a share of second place on eight under par alongside Ireland's Damien McGrane, New Zealand's Eddie Lee, India's Jyoti Randhawa and American Greg Hanrahan, one shot behind surprise leader Mardan Mamat from Singapore.

Lane has not won a strokeplay event since the fourth of his tour titles in 1994, but retains an amazingly infectious enthusiasm in his 23rd year on the circuit.

"Only another six years and I'll be on the Seniors Tour," joked Lane, who has spent more than half his life walking the courses of the world.

"Twenty-three years on tour is a long time but I love it, absolutely love it.

"I don't enjoy the travelling so much but I love the competitiveness, playing with young guys. I played with Charl Schwartzel in Qatar last year and asked him how old he was. He said '18', which meant I was 25 years older than him. I could be his dad!

"It's a young man's game really, but there are still a lot of guys in the their 40s playing really well. Mark O'Meara won in Dubai aged 47 only two weeks ago."

McGrane carded four birdies in an error-free second consecutive 68 as he bids to avoid a fifth straight visit to the qualifying school.

The 32-year-old from Wexford, who finished third at the school in November, had to play eight holes of his first round yesterday morning before heading straight back out to play his second.

"It's been a tough day, not my cup of tea to be honest, but it had to be done," said McGrane. "It's over now and I would have settled for this position.

"I managed to stave off the tiredness and kept myself out of trouble. I should have been one or two better, but getting round a course like this with no bogeys you can't complain."

Peter Lawrie is also well placed to challenge for the title at the weekend after a second round 70 left him just three shots off the lead. But Paul McGinley looked likely to miss the cut after a 74 left in at one over par.

Elsewhere, yoga and varicose veins were the unlikely topics of conversation on a day which saw 12 players unable to complete their rounds following Thursday's delay.

Randhawa credited his yoga guru for a flawless 64 which moved him into a share of second place, while Kiwi Michael Campbell continued his comeback from an operation on his varicose veins which revealed a number of life-threatening blood clots.

Campbell was four off the pace after a 70, one ahead of Colin Montgomerie, his main rival for a place in next week's Players Championship in Florida.

At Laguna National, Singapore

Singapore Scores

(Irish and British unless stated, Par 72) (x) denotes amateurs. Play suspended for day - 12 players to complete second round today)

135 - M Mamat (Sin) 67 68. 136 - E Lee (Nzl) 64 72, J Randhawa (Ind) 72 64, D McGrane 68 68, G Hanrahan (USA) 68 68, B Lane 71 65. 137 - K H Han (Myn) 68 69, J Kingston (Rsa) 68 69, 138 - P Lawrie 68 70, R Chapman 70 68. 139 - S Khan 70 69, T Jaidee (Tha) 71 68, M Campbell (Nzl) 69 70, N O'Hern (Aus) 71 68, T Srirot (Tha) 69 70, H Bjornstad (Nor) 73 66, Y-C Chen (Tai) 68 71. 140 - A Groom (Aus) 72 68, T Price (Aus) 70 70, C Montgomerie 71 69, W-S Kang (Kor) 70 70, B Rumford (Aus) 71 69. 141 - P Hanson (Swe) 68 73, C Devers (USA) 71 70, P Sjoland (Swe) 70 71, W-T Lin (Tai) 68 73, T Hideto (Jpn) 71 70, S Hansen (Den) 73 68, S-M Lee (Kor) 72 69, M Olander (Swe) 73 68, J-F Remesy (Fra) 72 69. 142 - T Pilkadaris (Aus) 71 71, J Lomas 71 71, S Kjeldsen (Den) 73 69, K Felton (Aus) 73 69, C Schwartzel (Rsa) 73 69, A Kang (USA) 69 73, E Canonica (Ita) 69 73, P Marksaeng (Tha) 69 73, C Rocca (Ita) 72 70, B Ruangkit (Tha) 72 70, T Levet (Fra) 67 75, S Barr (Aus) 70 72, R Green (Aus) 70 72. 143 - S Scahill (Nzl) 74 69, Y-E Yang (Kor) 74 69, P O'Malley (Aus) 72 71, J Haeggman (Swe) 73 70, C Chen (Taiwan) 74 69, P Hedblom (Swe) 70 73, B Kennedy (Aus) 73 70, E Loar (USA) 70 73, S Little 70 73, H Fujita (Jpn) 75 68, J M Lara (Spa) 71 72, A Singh (Ind) 68 75, A Coltart 69 74, S Yates 70 73, D Maruyama (Jpn) 73 70, M Both (Aus) 73 70, G Norquist (USA) 74 69. 144 - C Wi (Kor) 72 72, C-B Lam (Sin) 74 70, D Chia (Mal) 74 70, M Jonzon (Swe) 71 73, J Knutzon (USA) 70 74, A Hansen (Den) 74 70, L-W Zhang (Chn) 72 72, P Fowler (Aus) 67 77, W-K Lin (Taiwan) 71 73, U Park (Aus) 72 72, J-D Kim (Kor) 68 76, J Elson 71 73. 145 - Craig Kamps (Rsa) 71 74, MA Martin (Spa) 71 74, M Murugiah (Sin) 70 75, F Delamontagne (Fra) 72 73, G Rosales (Phi) 70 75, P McGinley 71 74, Edward Michaels (USA) 73 72, Andrew Pitts (USA) 73 72, Eng Wah Poh (Sin) 71 74. 146 - P Golding 71 75, I Garrido (Spa) 76 70, P Broadhurst 72 74, J Manuel Carriles (Spa) 73 73, P Nyman (Swe) 72 74, M Cunning (USA) 72 74, R McEvoy 72 74, Wen-C Liang (Chn) 74 72, M Fraser (Aus) 78 68, J M Singh (Ind) 75 71. 147 - C Williams (Rsa) 76 71, C Gane 72 75, D Terblanche (Rsa) 73 74, T Dier (Ger) 71 76, S Ishigaki (Jpn) 74 73, D Park 73 74, T Wiratchant (Tha) 74 73. 148 - C Monasterio (Arg) 74 74, R Jacquelin (Fra) 72 76, K-C Lin (Taiwan) 73 75, H Buhrmann (Rsa) 73 75, S Drummond 76 72, W Ormsby (Aus) 70 78, N Sato (Jpn) 75 73. 149 - N Van Rensburg (Rsa) 78 71, P Meesawat (Tha) 75 74, A Fraser (Aus) 73 76, J Chung (Kor) 71 78. 150 - Warren Bennett 78 72, David Dixon 73 77. 151 - Harmeet Kahlon (Ind) 76 75, Matthew Cort 76 75, Rafael Ponce (Ecu) 77 74, Dino Kwek (Sin) 73 78, Ted Oh (Kor) 73 78, Gary Rusnak (USA) 77 74. 152 - Z Moe (Myn) 75 77, P Marantz (Aus) 71 81, M Eliasson (Swe) 75 77, (x) T-H Choo (Sin) 76 76. 153 - R Moir (Aus) 72 81, W Aung (Myanmar) 79 74. 154 - A Johl (Ind) 76 78, B Fung (Sin) 75 79. 155 - J Huldahl (Den) 74 81. 156 - B Banks 77 79, D Carter 77 79. 160 E-C Poh (Sin) 77 83. Dis: S Fernandez (Arg).