Belfast golfer shows solid form in second round

MICHAEL HOEY held on to his overnight lead at the halfway stage of the European Tour School stage one qualifier at Cheshire’s Carden Park when he added a 68 to his course record 63 for an 11 under par aggregate.

The former Walker Cup player and amateur champion, who turned professional after competing in this year’s US Masters at Augusta, played as solidly in the second round as he did in the first, but the difference lay in the putting.

“I was not trying to shoot another low score and settled for aiming for the middle of the greens, so I did not have the same number of birdie chances,” the 23-year-old said.

“I played more cautiously because I did all the hard work in the first round, and I just need to keep it together over the last two days,” he added.

The Belfast man picked up his first bogey in two rounds at the uphill fifth when he got a flier through the green after finding the rough from the tee.

He leads by three shots from Australian amateur Marcus Fraser who repeated his first round 67, while Welshman Craig Williams is a stroke further back.

Gary Marks strengthened his grip on first place at the Five Lakes qualifier with a second round 67.

It leaves him on 14 under par 130, four strokes clear of the field, with his only concern being whether his damaged hand will stand up to two more rounds over the testing Essex course.

Marks snapped a tendon in his left palm in June and has been unable to play for the past 11 weeks.

His sudden return to form has surprised the 38-year-old Londoner.

“This is the best golf I’ve ever played,” he said.

“But I’m resting the hand as much as possible by doing everything else with my right, even to the extent of making sure I don’t even take a club out of the bag or replace it with my left.

“If it hadn’t been the qualifying school, I would have had a cortisone injection in the hand and rested for a couple of weeks.

“I’m going to see a hand surgeon soon but I’d rather be injured and playing this well than being fit and playing badly.”

Jimmy Kawalec, from Sweden, with 68, Devonian left-hander Simon McCarthy, and New Zealand amateur Tom Wilkinson, who both went round in 66, are Marks’s closest pursuers on 134.

Danny Poulter, elder brother of European Tour player Ian, fired a sparkling course record 11 under 61 at Chart Hills in Kent to come surging up the field after round two.

The 28-year-old from Stevenage, who began his campaign with an unconvincing 77 on Tuesday, conjured up eight birdies and two eagles as he finished the day a single shot behind pacesetters Murray Urquhart, of Inverness, and Germany’s Tino Schuster on a six under aggregate of 138.