Mixed fortunes for home contingent

WHILE Pádraig Harrington and Paul McGinley were battling gamely to overtake the Australians at the top of the Irish Open leaderboard at Baltray yesterday, the other Irish seven qualifiers were meeting with mixed fortunes.

It was a very decent weekend for Graeme McDowell who atoned for Thursday's distinctly moderate 73 with rounds of 69, 70 and 70 for a six under par total of 282, a share of 11th place and a cheque for €30,336. He is now 13th in the European Tour order of merit with €800,968.

McDowell talks a very positive game and claims to be "really looking forward" to the next two weeks which see him take in the Scandinavian Masters and Dutch Open when most of the bigger guns are taking a breather as they prepare for the US PGA Championship.