Irish quartet stay in hunt
However, hot on their heels is Ireland’s Damien McGrane who added a 71 to his first day’s 67 for a total of 138. Paul McGinley shot a one-under-par 71 to also move into contention on 140 while first day leader with a 66, Peter Lawrie, stumbled to a 75 but remains in contention on 141.
Shane Lowry was five under par playing the last when play was suspended due to high winds.
McGrane felt he was lucky to go out in the afternoon session.
“We got the best of the weather, there’s no doubt about that,” he said
“A round of 71 was a reasonable performance, although I probably played a bit better than that. It was funny day out there, and a lot can go wrong on a day like today.
“I made a lot of birdie chances coming in, but just couldn’t hole the putts. But I hit good putts, so I’m reasonably happy with my performance.”
Spaniard Lara finished an impressive second round on 68 to move to seven under par and was joined by Lundberg of Sweden – who only managed 15 holes of his round before play was suspended.
Lara, 34, picked up five birdies on the front nine with a bogey at the 15th the only blemish on a round which has seen him move firmly into contention at the midway point.
Lundberg bogeyed the sixth but still kept up with Lara by birdieing the 13th, 15th, 17th and the third after starting on the back nine but the Spaniard told europeantour.com he was happy with his own game despite ever-changing wind patterns.
He said: “I played really well on my back nine. I struggled a little bit early on because of the wind, but then made five birdies on my back nine, which added up to a good round. So I’m very happy.
“It (the wind) was coming from all directions, but mainly from left to right. It also made it difficult to read the putts. So it was very tricky.”
English duo Oliver Fisher and Gary Boyd are tied for third alongside McGrane.
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