Home fans hope for Macs attack

THEY will not be reduced to a supporting role by any means in today’s third round, but Rory McIlory and Graeme McDowell will start their day trailing the four leading Irishmen in this Irish Open, presented by Discover Ireland, field.

Michael Hoey, Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane and amateur Paul Cutler will lead the home challenge at Killarney, reaching the halfway point at six under par, four shots off the pace set by leader Marcel Siem.

McDowell and McIlroy are two shots further back but at least, for the sake of the tournament as much as their own objectives, they are into the weekend shake-up, their afternoon rounds of 66 and 68 respectively returning some lustre to the event following the early exits for Major-winning brethren Darren Clarke and Pádraig Harrington.

Yet Cutler, Hoey, Lawrie and McGrane rightly deserve some of the spotlight after building on their opening rounds and moving up the leaderboard yesterday. Cutler, the West of Ireland and Irish Amateur Close champion, did his Walker Cup hopes nothing but good as he carded a 67 in the morning to put himself well in contention for a repeat of Shane Lowry’s amateur triumph in the event at Baltry two years ago.

“Unbelievable to be honest,” Cutler, 22, said. “It’s wild beyond expectations. I just came here to try and make the cut and the weekend but it’s a great position to be in.”

Fellow Ulsterman Hoey, who was seventh last year, was also pretty pleased with his five-birdie, one-bogey second-round 67.

“Only one bogey in 36 holes,” Hoey said. “I played well, hit a lot of fairways. I was only four under but I managed to hole a couple of good putts on the way in to get to six under which puts me in a good position.”

McGrane followed suit with a 67 while Lawrie reached six under with an eight-birdie, three-bogey 66 that closed with a flourish.

“I looked at the leaderboard and said if I can get to five under standing on the 18th tee, it would be a good goal,” Lawrie said. “I holed a nice putt on 13, on 14 as well and birdied 16. So all of a sudden I was five under playing the last. I’m always hitting driver off the last and leaving myself a short iron to the green and lo and behold I made another birdie. So I’m really happy.”

There was disappointment for Ireland’s star of the first round Colm Moriarty, who followed his opening 67 with a two-over 72, but McDowell and McIlroy both moved in the right direction after less than stellar opening rounds of 72 and 70 respectively.

McIlroy moved from one under to four under with a 68 while McDowell got himself into the weekend and a tee-time with his successor as US Open champion thanks to a six-birdie, one-bogey 66 that put a smile back on the Portrush man’s face after a missed cut at the British Open two weeks ago and a frustrating first round.

“It’s nice. In front of the home fans, and the home tournament, of course you want to make the weekend and it was nice to shoot five under par today and get myself semi back in the tournament,” McDowell said. “If I can go out tomorrow and go low, I might have a chance come Sunday.

“I hit the ball a lot better today, drove it on the fairway which was the key. There’s no doubt this golf course plays a little shorter and easier in the afternoons and it was nice to take advantage of that.”

Also into the weekend are Simon Thornton, despite failing to capitalise on his opening 68. The Team Ireland golfer shot a second-round 72 to start the third round at two under, while John G Kelly rescued his 2011 Irish Open with a 68 that erased his opening 73 and moved him the right side of the cut at one under. There was plenty of Irish disappointment, though, with Paul McGinley and David Higgins just missing out by one stroke on level par, while British Open champion Clarke could only muster a 74 to follow his first-day 69 to finish on one over.

“Average to say the least,” was Clarke’s verdict.