Onward and upward for McGrane

The upward graph in his career has been more akin to climbing Vinegar Hill than scaling Mount Everest but, slowly and surely, Damien McGrane is achieving newer and greater heights. Now, these days, the one-time club professional who dominated the Irish PGA region year after year until finally realising his talents deserved a more worldwide examination is more sure-footed with each passing week on the PGA European Tour.

Yesterday, in the second round of the BMW Championship at Wentworth, and in his own steady and methodical way, McGrane - a 34-year-old native of Meath who has made Wexford his home - added a round of 71 to his opening 69 for a four-under-par 140 total that manoeuvred him into contention going into the weekend of the European Tour's flagship tournament.

Not that McGrane is one to get too carried away, after learning the ropes on the club circuit before chasing his dream.

When he turned professional in 1991, first working as an assistant under Brendan McGovern at Headfort before taking up the club professional's position at Wexford, McGrane toyed with the idea of life on Tour. The dream was to take some time to fulfil.

His first visit to Tour school was an unsuccessful one in 1996, as were trips in 2000 and 2001. But he persevered. In 2002, McGrane won his Tour card and his golfing life was to change.

The pro-am circuit was replaced by visits to Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur. It was a year of adapting and learning, though. A 140th place on the final Order of Merit meant another visit to Tour school. Again, he won his card.

Last year, McGrane finished 101st on the Order of Merit and safely retained his playing status for this season. It was then the decision was taken to give up his club post with Wexford, and the itinerary has grown fuller as a consequence.

Although he missed last week's Irish Open because of his daughter's First Communion, McGrane's appearance here at Wentworth is his 16th event of the season.

Seven of those Tournaments have ended in missed cuts but, apart from those events, McGrane has shown an ability to produce the goods.

Seventh in the New Zealand Open; eighth in the Dunhill Championship in South Africa; 17th in the Spanish Open. He lies 63rd in the Order of Merit with winnings of €108,312 and the prospect this weekend of adding to that total.

Yesterday's round of 71 exemplified McGrane's fighting qualities. Despite suffering what he termed a "slack start", one which featured two bogeys in his opening five holes, McGrane battled back. "I didn't actually do anything wrong and yet I seemed to drop a couple of shots early. But I hung in there. I didn't panic, and eventually they started coming back my way."

At one juncture in the season, McGrane hit something of a lean patch and missed seven cuts in 11 outings, from the Singapore Masters to the Italian Open.

"I got into a situation where I wasn't happy with my game," he admitted. "I was always that one or two shots wrong. Instead of being one or two shots right, they were wrong. I was coming in every day shooting 72, 73 and I was putting like Houdini for those scores.

"When I needed to be making a birdie, I was making a bogey. I'd have 16 holes the same as usual but the two holes that counted were bogeys instead of birdies. If you stand up and hit a great shot, it's a birdie. If you stand up and hit a poor shot, it's a bogey. All you need is two of them a round and that's a swing of four shots and that's an awful lot out on Tour."

The evidence at Wentworth, though, is McGrane has rediscovered his balance and is again ready to continue that onward and upward climb.

British unless stated, Irish in bold

133 - P Hedblom (Swe) 68 65

136 - P McGinley 72 64

137 - N O'Hern (Aus) 68 69

138 - P Harrington 70 68, P Hanson (Swe) 69 69

139 - M Campbell (Nzl) 71 68, P Lonard (Aus) 69 70, B Curtis (USA) 68 71, L Slattery 70 69, T Jaidee (Thai) 72 67

140 - Marten Olander (Swe) 68 72, R-J Derksen (Ned) 71 69, P Broadhurst 70 70, I Poulter 71 69, R Goosen (Rsa) 70 70, D Clarke 71 69, J-F Lima (Por) 67 73, J Lomas 72 68, D McGrane 69 71, R Coles 69 71, A Cabrera (Arg) 70 70, M Fraser (Aus) 68 72

141 - R Green (Aus) 71 70, JM Olazabal (Spa) 72 69, K Ferrie 72 69, S O'Hara 69 72, A Forsyth 69 72, N Faldo 70 71, S Hansen (Den) 70 71

142 - P Sjoland (Swe) 72 70, S Drummond 71 71, D Howell 70 72, G Murphy 74 68, P Lawrie 67 75, E Els (Rsa) 73 69, T Bjorn (Den) 71 71

143 - R Jacquelin (Fra) 70 73, G McDowell 67 76, S Dodd 69 74, S Webster 71 72, P Fulke (Swe) 74 69, S Kjeldsen (Den) 75 68, R Muntz (Ned) 74 69, S Dyson 70 73, B Dredge 75 68, L Westwood 72 71, MA Jimenez (Spn) 70 73, L Donald 71 72, T Immelman (Rsa) 72 71, P Lawrie 73 70, A Coltart 70 73; Ma King 72 71, P Edwards 71 72, A Tadini (Ita) 73 70

144 - D Carter 75 69, A Marshall 72 72, J Donaldson 73 71, S Henderson 72 72, S Scahill (Nzl) 71 73, T Levet (Fra) 72 72, R Sterne (Rsa) 73 71, M Siem (Ger) 70 74, D Lynn 71 73, G Storm 73 71, C Montgomerie 71 73, I Woosnam 75 69, H Stenson (Swe) 70 74, M Tunnicliff 72 72, T Johnstone (Zim) 72 72, P Fowler (Aus) 68 76, N Fasth (Swe) 71 73, P Golding 71 73

145 - E Romero (Arg) 71 74, C Hanell (Swe) 71 74, W Ormsby (Aus) 68 77, G Owen 74 71, J Haeggman (Swe) 73 72, G Havret (Fra) 75 70

146 - S Luna (Spa) 74 72, N Dougherty 77 69, S Torrance 74 72, G Ralph 74 72, M Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 73 73, M Brier (Aut) 71 75, B Lane 76 70, M Lafeber (Ned) 72 74, B Kennedy (Aus) 69 77

147 - J Sandelin (Swe) 75 72, P O'Malley (Aus) 75 72, A Wall 74 73

148 - M Mackenzie 75 73, A Hansen (Den) 74 74, J Langmead 76 72, J Kingston (Rsa) 77 71, R Gonzalez (Arg) 72 76, P Senior (Aus) 70 7

149 JM Lara (Spa) 78 71, S Lyle 74 75, D Gilford 77 72, G Emerson 71 78, C Schwartzel (Rsa) 71 78, S Khan 74 75, G Brand Jnr 79 70, T Price (Aus) 75 74, C Rodiles (Spn) 72 77

150 - J Bickerton 77 73, S Gallacher 78 72, S Wakefield 73 77, R Finch 77 73, D Clark 77 73, K Eriksson (Swe) 76 74, D Higgins 75 75, MA Martin (Spn) 77 73, A Oldcorn 68 82, M Maritz (Rsa) 80 70, M Foster 73 77

151 - M Ford 74 77, R Russell 76 75, M Ilonen (Fin) 76 75, C Cevaer (Fra) 78 73, J Levermore 74 77, L Oosthuizen (Rsa) 73 78

152 - P Walton 75 77, C Rocca (Ita) 76 76, D Park 71 81, B Rumford (Aus) 78 74

153 - F Madden 78 75, J-F Lucquin (Fra) 76 77, J-F Remesy (Fra) 75 78, C Kelly 75 78

154 - Lee Thompson 75 79, E Canonica (Ita) 75 79, M Cayeux (Zim) 72 82

155 - M Nesbit 78 77, D Prosser 79 76

156 - M Roe 78 78, A George 80 76, B Davis 76 80, P Casey 78 78, I Garrido (Spn) 72 84, C Mallon 76 80, M Wiggett 77 79

158 - D Fichardt (Rsa) 75 83, P Simpson 78 80

160 - T Nash 81 79

161 - F Andersson Hed (Swe) 81 80

Withdrew: G Evans