Golf:Ross Fisher has dropped 130 places on the world rankings since he played in the last Ryder Cup, but he now hopes the good times are back. Thanks to a five under par second round of 66 at Celtic Manor the 31-year-old leads the ISPS Handa Wales Open at the halfway point.
"Hopefully this will be the start of a big summer for me," said Fisher, who has not had a single top-five finish for almost 18 months. “I guess it's the dreaded curse of the comedown from the Ryder Cup. You have such high expectations and it's been disappointing."
He now stands 157th in the world, is not in the field for the upcoming US Open - he had a chance to win that three years ago - and is down at 72nd on the Ryder Cup points table with only 12 weeks of the race to go.
Amazingly, there are 19 other English players ahead of him in that.
"Once you've played one you don't want to miss one. It's still a goal of mine, but it's a big outside goal at the moment because I've got to play damn well to get on that team.
“I made an equipment change this year - I just felt the time was right - and it's probably taken me longer to adjust than I would have liked. But if I can play how I've played the first two days, especially today, I feel like I'm really tough to beat.
"It's always nice to come back to a good hunting ground. The Ryder Cup was a great experience - I played really well and really enjoyed it."
Fisher's round actually began with a bogey six, but then came four birdies and two more to finish with from 12 and five feet established a lead that at one point was four shots.
First round leader Lee Slattery, who is US Open-bound after qualifying on Monday, then cut the gap to two by adding a 71 to his opening 67.
He did well to come back into the picture after three bogeys in his first eight holes.
A 50-foot putt on the next revived his spirits, he then made a 25-footer for eagle on the 562-yard 11th and he holed from 18 feet on the last.
"The swing certainly didn't feel as good," the Southport golfer said. "It was one of those battling days. I just managed to compose my thoughts and that's why we do psychology.
"I had a break from it and it was probably a mistake. I felt I knew everything - as golfers do. We're quite stubborn and selfish."
Paraguay's Fabrizio Zanotti would have been alongside him but for three-putting his last green to drop alongside Bristol's Chris Wood and Thai Thongchai Jaidee.
Scoring was much improved in the calmer and warmer conditions, but Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal will not be around for the weekend.
A triple bogey seven on the 16th ended his hopes and coming off the final tee he even gave a youngster in the crowd his driver before completing a 75 and nine over aggregate.
Scot Paul Lawrie, second in the cup standings after his runners-up finish in the BMW PGA Championship last Sunday, made it through on one over thanks to a 69 and 2010 captain Colin Montgomerie survived as well at four over.
Miguel Angel Jimenez squeezed through right on the limit of five over, but there will not be a single Welshman in the closing 36 holes.
Eight teed off, eight missed the cut.
The Duke of Roxburghe's son Ted Innes Ker lasted only two days as well. He was given a special invitation by the sponsors, but had rounds of 86 and 78.
Collated second round scores and totals, The Celtic Manor Resort, City of Newport, Wales (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71):
136Ross Fisher 70 66
138Lee Slattery 67 71
139Chris Wood 72 67, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 70 69, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 71 68
140Tim Sluiter (Ned) 68 72
141Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 73 68, Richard McEvoy 71 70, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 72 69, Mark Foster 72 69, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 76 65
142Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 73 69, Damien McGrane 71 71, David Howell 73 69, Robert Coles 73 69, Steven O'Hara 70 72, George Coetzee (Rsa) 71 71, Simon Thornton 69 73, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 73 69
143Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 75 68, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 74 69, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 74 69, Joost Luiten (Ned) 74 69, Marcel Siem (Ger) 68 75, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 69 74, Joel Sjoholm (Swe) 69 74, David Drysdale 72 71, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 71 72, Tommy Fleetwood 75 68, Paul Lawrie 74 69, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 74 69, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 69 74
144Brett Rumford (Aus) 74 70, Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 77 67, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 72 72, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 76 68, David Horsey 71 73, David Lynn 73 71
145Jamie Moul 78 67, Peter Lawrie 72 73, Simon Khan 75 70, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 73 72, Daniel Denison 78 67, Tom Lewis 74 71, Romain Wattel (Fra) 73 72, Knut Borsheim (Nor) 74 71, Rich Beem (USA) 77 68, Keith Horne (Rsa) 79 66, Reinier Saxton (Ned) 74 71, Paul McGinley 72 73, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 73 72
146George Murray 75 71, Oliver Wilson 73 73, Colin Montgomerie 74 72, Steen Tinning (Den) 73 73, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 74 72, Jamie Elson 71 75, Scott Hend (Aus) 80 66, Andrew Marshall 72 74, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 71 75
147Andrew Johnston 75 72, Matthew Zions (Aus) 76 71, Matthew Baldwin 77 70, Oscar Floren (Swe) 78 69, James Morrison 77 70, Oliver Fisher 76 71, Graeme Storm 80 67, Stephen Gallacher 77 70, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 74 73, Federico Colombo (Ita) 79 68, Andrea Pavan (Ita) 76 71, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 76 71, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 77 70, Gregory Havret (Fra) 75 72, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 70 77
The following players failed to make the cut:
148Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 74 74, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 73 75, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 78 70, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 73 75, Johan Edfors (Swe) 77 71, Marc Warren 75 73, David Dixon 74 74, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 76 72, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 75 73, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 77 71, Ross McGowan 73 75
149Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 76 73, Alex Haindl (Rsa) 77 72, Richie Ramsay 71 78, Gary Orr 77 72, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 75 74, Anders Hansen (Den) 77 72, Gareth Maybin 73 76, Estanislao Goya (Arg) 82 67, Phillip Price 75 74, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 73 76, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 75 74, Danny Willett 78 71, Mark F Haastrup (Den) 76 73, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 75 74, Thomas Levet (Fra) 78 71
150Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 79 71, Christian Nilsson (Swe) 78 72, Steve Webster 77 73, John Parry 77 73, Peter Whiteford 76 74, Rhys Enoch 77 73, Ricardo Santos (Por) 79 71
151Richard Bland 77 74, Scott Strange (Aus) 81 70, Edouard Dubois (Fra) 76 75, Julien Quesne (Fra) 75 76, Kenneth Ferrie 79 72, Scott Jamieson 76 75, Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 76 75, Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 8170, Richard Green (Aus) 76 75, Michael Hoey 75 76
152Tjaart Van Der Walt (Rsa) 80 72, Andy Sullivan 78 74, Rhys Davies 75 77, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 78 74, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 78 74, Andreas Harto (Den) 80 72
153Craig Lee 79 74, Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 82 71, James Kingston (Rsa) 77 76, Joe Ferguson 82 71, Rhys Pugh 73 80, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 78 75, Sam Little 77 76, Bradley Dredge 72 81
154Christian Cevaer (Fra) 77 77, Sam Hutsby 83 71, Thomas Norret (Den) 81 73, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 78 76, Markus Brier (Aut) 76 78
155Simon Lilly 82 73
156Hennie Otto (Rsa) 83 73, Richard Wallis 77 79
158Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 82 76
159Warren Abery (Rsa) 81 78
160Jordi Garcia (Spa) 80 80
161Pablo Martin (Spa) 80 81
164Ted Innes ker 86 78, Naoya Takemoto (Jpn) 81 83
166Jason Shufflebotham 82 84
170Zhiqun Lam (Sin) 92 78
RTD: 77 Richard Finch, 80 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned)
DQ: 82 Richard Johnson
WD: 81 Jamie Donaldson, 81 lexander Noren (Swe), 81 Shane Lowry, 88 Gary Boyd
