McDowell three behind after lapse on 18th

A double-bogey seven at the 18th proved costly for Ireland’s Graham McDowell in the second round of the Honda Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach, Florida last night.

McDowell was five under for his round and seven under overall, just one shot off the pace, on the final tee. However, his double-bogey saw him slip back to joint fifth place on five under after a 67.

Rory McIlroy and Padraig Harrington also made the cut.

McIlroy shot a second round 69 for a level par total of 140, while Harrington was on two-over after a second round 71.

Colombian Camilo Villegas and American Anthony Kim shared the lead on 8-under.

Villegas shot a second successive 66, while Kim fred a brilliant 6-under 64.

Meanwhile, Peter Lawrie confessed it had been more than 25 years since he last recorded double figures at one hole after taking a ‘10’ during the second round of the Maybank Malaysian Open.

Lawrie arrived at the fifth tee of the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club course at five under par but walked off having recorded a five-over par 10 to slump back to level par in the $2m event in Kuala Lumpur.

The Dubliner put his first two drives out-of-bounds in the sauna-like conditions before missing a three foot putt that would have given him a nine at the 474-metre hole.

Bizarrely, Lawrie eventually ended his round with a level par 72 to remain at three under par and just five strokes behind Spain’s Alejandro Canizares who emerged from a two-hour thunderstorm delay to card a 69 and move to eight under par and a stroke clear of Denmark’s Soren Hansen and Philippine’s Angelo Que who each signed off for 67.

However there was still more than 60 players still to complete their round when poor light eventually halted play including little known Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat who holed out for a spectacular eagle three in near darkness to move to nine under par and with four holes to play when he resumes his round early today.

In near darkness, former world junior champion Kiradech chipped in from 30 yards to surge to the top of the leaderboard at nine under par after playing his opening 14 holes in five under.

Ireland’s only other starters, Darren Clarke and Gary Murphy, will be cut from the event when the second round officially ends today. Clarke carded rounds of 73 and 77 while Murphy was among 30 players who had to be in place at 7.45am local time to complete their delayed opening round. Spaniard Canizares had posted the clubhouse lead at eight under after a three-under-par 69.