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Lowry and Lawrie in Open battle

The Irish duo of Shane Lowry and Peter Lawrie are now fighting for one of the last remaining places into next week’s British Open after posting similar scores for similar second round totals in the Scottish Open at Castle Stuart.

Lowry and Lawrie each carded second round 69s to move to nine under par and just three strokes from the leading duo of Italy’s Francesco Molinari (70) and Sweden’s Alex Noren (66), who head the field by a stroke on 12-under par.

Lowry’s round included six birdies but also a 16th hole double whereas Lawrie had a similar number of birdies but he dropped shots at 14 and 16.

“Despite the disappointment to take a double I am very much in the mix going to the weekend and that suits me fine,” said Lowry.

Pádraig Harrington had five birdies in a second straight 69 to move to six under par but he failed to birdie any of the par fives.

“I am happy to be six shots behind but then if I was four shots better, I would be right in there,” he said.

In contrast, four other Irish missed the four under par cut – Paul McGinley (71 & 71), Damien McGrane (73 & 72), Simon Thornton (74 & 73) and Gareth Maybin (73 & 77).

* Colm Moriarty believes he has turned a corner with his confidence after he remained in contention at the Credit Suisse Challenge thanks to a battling one under par second round of 70, which moved him to five under par and three shots off the lead.

Having struggled on the second day in recent tournaments, it was a welcome change for Moriarty, who admitted after the opening day in Switzerland that he had done some soul-searching in the week prior to this tournament after a poor run.

* Billy Hemstock won the Kingspan Concra Wood Open after beating Wallace Booth in a play-off following a gripping final day.

The pair both shot two-under-par 70s in their final round to finish on six under par and send the event to a play-off starting on the ninth, where Hemstock shot a birdie two to claim the £10,000 winner’s cheque.

* Ireland beat their big rivals Scotland in the European Boys Team Championship in Sweden yesterday on a day when play had to be twice suspended due to the weather.

They got home 3-2 in a tense battle over the Lidingo course and will today meet France with fifth place in the Championship at stake.

It was a crucial singles point at the foot of the order by Robin Dawson, who has consistently produced good golf this week, that saw the Irish home.

Dawson pipped Bradley Neil on the home green for a win which added to the earlier successes of Gavin Moynihan and Alex Gleeson.

Gleeson has been in great form since the event started on Tuesday and his 2&1 defeat of Craig Howie was superbly executed while at the top of the singles order Gavin Moynihan continued his fine season, beating Ewan Scott 4&3.

The foursomes pairing of John-Ross Galbraith and William Russell and Jordan Hood in the singles went down to defeat.

* Headford hero Rory McNamara produced a birdie-birdie finish in yesterday’s sunshine at Royal Portrush to win the North of Ireland Amateur Open Championship with a one hole win over Michael Sinclair from Knock in Belfast.

In the morning semi-finals, McNamara had also to come from behind to defeat Portmarnock’s Geoff Lenehan by two holes while Sinclair beat Eddie McCormack by 6&5. Home

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