Orr ideally placed for tour win

Scotland's Gary Orr flexed his newly found muscles to claim the halfway lead in the Algarve Portuguese Open at Penina and put himself in pole position for a first European Tour title.

The 32-year-old from Helensburgh, now based in Surrey, carded a superb second round 67 for an eight under total of 136 and a two stroke advantage over last year's runner-up, Midlander John Bickerton.

Australian Wayne Riley and Kent's Jamie Spence were two shots further back on four under with England's Brian Davis, Wales' Phil Price and Spain's Ivo Giner another shot behind.

Best of the Irish was Paul McGinley who followed his opening two-under-par 70 with a steady round of 72. His compatriots, Eamon Darcy (two over) and Gary Murphy (four over), also made the cut.

Orr has yet to win in seven years on tour despite some notable near misses including a tie for second behind Colin Montgomerie in the 1998 Volvo PGA Championship and being pipped by Lee Westwood for the 1999 Dutch Open.

He finished joint second again in the South African PGA championship in Johannesburg last month but is reaping the rewards of a punishing fitness regime initiated over the winter.

"I've worked hard on my fitness and done a lot of weight training over the winter," said Orr, whose 67 was a new course record for the slightly modified layout.

Orr has been the model of consistency despite not managing a win yet on tour, missing just one cut in his last 27 events.

"I feel like over the last 18 months the game has been slowly coming together and I'm looking forward to the weekend," he added.

Bickerton missed a 15-foot eagle putt on the last to close the gap to one but tapped in for a birdie to complete a round of 70 while playing partner Spence also birdied the last to move to four under.

"I just couldn't read the greens on the back nine," said Bickerton, who earlier holed an eight-iron from 148-yards for an eagle on the par four fourth. "I could see them as clear as anything yesterday but my caddy and I couldn't see a line between us today, it's horrible when you lose it like that. The putt on the last was just a lag because we didn't have a clue where it's going."

Ian Woosnam was still clearly a bit rusty himself as he struggled to a level par 72 to finish on two over par to make the weekend's play by two shots but former European number one Ronan Rafferty missed out.

Rafferty, playing his first tour event for almost two years after a serious thumb injury, acquitted himself well but could only manage two rounds of 75 to miss the cut by two shots.