Unpredictable Murray takes pole position

Pat Murray flew in the face of golfing reason yesterday, by expecting a notoriously unpredictable game to pay its dues. Still, the former international had the satisfaction of a second-round 68 for a halfway lead of one stroke, in the Irish Independent East of Ireland Championship at Baltray.

"I have been battling here for so long without success, that I felt it was only a matter of time before my game came together," said Murray after completing a six-under-par 36-hole aggregate of 140. His closest challenger is former boy and youth international, Peter Martin of Balmoral, who also shot a 68 but for 141.

When the cut was made on 152 - eight over par - former champion Arthur Pierse was among six survivors on that figure. It meant he would not have a dispiriting send-off to New Jersey on Friday, in preparation for pre-qualifying at Fairmount GC next Monday for the US Senior Open at Salem CC, starting on June 28th.

A fresh westerly wind, helping competitors down the long second, heightened the challenge of firm, fast-running fairways. Indeed this was classic links golf in which thoughtful consideration had to be given to club selection, even off the tee.

For instance, Karl Bornemann of Douglas used driver, three wood or two, three or four iron off the tee at the various driving holes, on the way to a 70. "I needed the four iron at the 12th (410 yards downwind) to avoid going into the second fairway bunker," he explained.

Then there was the experience of Portmarnock's Niall Goulding who was horrified to see a wedge second shot sail over the green at the 482-yard second - which is a par five. It meant he had driven the ball about 360 yards, prompting him to remark, somewhat bemused, afterwards: "I've never hit a wedge here before."

As manager of Kinsale GC, Murray could afford to talk about ["]robbing a putter out of the pro shop["] at his club last week without risking a run-in with the law. It was an Odyssey White Hot model which delivered a suitably warm dividend of 31 putts, though he used it three times for a bogey on the short 15th.

The key to his score, however, was a splendid finish of three birdies, with a 20 footer finding the target at the 16th, followed by 12 footers at the 17th and 18th. "Top-20 is my best finish here, so my target is to improve on that," he said. Waterville's Mark Murphy, who was beaten in a play-off for last year's title, departed the scene after adding a 78 to a grim 81 from Saturday.