Lynn out to take slice of the action

England’s David Lynn has given himself a chance to join the European Tour’s ‘Millionaires Club’ this weekend in real style – by winning his first title.

With Dane Thomas Bjorn unable to sustain the magic of his opening 64 and falling back with a 74, Lynn took over the lead in the Nissan Irish Open at Portmarnock by adding a 65 to his first-day 69 for a 10-under-par half-way total of 134.

He goes into the third round one ahead of back-to-form New Zealander Michael Campbell and four clear of Bjorn, Swede Robert Karlsson and Dubliner Peter Lawrie.

Darren Clarke survived the cut by two thanks to a 68 – but pre-tournament favourite Padraig Harrington did not, slumping to a 76. It was only the second missed cut in Europe for the world number nine in nearly three years.

After his round, Lynn talked about the messages on his mobile phone which he is using to try to accomplish his goals.

“The road to success is always under construction,” is one of them and another is a quote from Muhammad Ali – “Champions aren’t made in the gym. They must have the skill and the will, but the will far outweighs the skill.”

The 29-year-old from Staffordshire admits in each of his seven seasons as a professional he has reached a point when he finds himself getting “a bit stale, a bit bored” with Tour life – despite the riches on offer every week.

“It can just get a bit mundane sometimes if you are not achieving what you want,” said the former amateur international, whose best finishes so far have been second places in Austria in 1996 and Morocco two years ago.

“You get a bit disappointed and it just gets a bit monotonous. It kicks in every year at some point, but then it tends to go away.” He has been told it is a common feeling by a sports psychologist he has just started seeing.

Playing his first Open Championship last week certainly was not boring. He recalled: “Playing in front of so many people you get a right good buzz – it gets your adrenalin going and I need to get up to the top of the leaderboard to enjoy it more.”

Joint third in Dubai in March after sharing the second and third-round leads, he is looking to stay out in front now despite having chosen not to play a practice round on a course he had never seen before.

“It’s unusual, but it’s sometimes good. I didn’t turn until midday on Wednesday, the weather wasn’t too great, so I decided just to stay on the putting green,” he revealed.

“My caddie walked it and I saw it for the first time on Thursday afternoon.”

Three birdies in his first five holes and then five more in an inward 31 swept him clear, a 30-foot downhill putt on the 17th being the icing on the cake.

Campbell, round in 69, is back in Europe with his family after a nightmare time in America, where he missed every single cut and had a round of 89 in the Players’ Championship in March before being disqualified for signing for a wrong score.

“It’s like an alien has taken over my body,” he said then.

Bjorn, who lost The Open on Sunday from three ahead with four to play, has lived on adrenalin since – but it finally ran out today.

He said: “I was just tired and it got to me. I had no energy at all. But I’m still in it and that’s the result I’ve got to take out of it.

“I’ll get some rest now and hopefully my energy levels will be back up.”

Harrington commented: “I struggled mentally and just did some stupid things. But I tried on every shot and I can’t do more than that.

“It’s disappointing, but that’s the way it is.”

With a first baby on the way in a few weeks, he is not sure when he will next play – it could even be his defence of the dunhill links championships at the end of September.

While he does not need to worry about securing his a place on next year’s circuit, Sebastien Delagrange does. But from the depths of 226th on the Money List, the Frenchman did his cause no good at all by becoming another player to get disqualified for a scorecard error.

Six days after Mark Roe and Jesper Parnevik were kicked out of The Open for forgetting to exchange cards Delagrange signed for a one-over-par 73 in the first round, but then realised it was a 74.

As for Roe, he fell back to one under with a 74 and is on the same mark as Open-winning caddie Andy Sutton.

After the stuff of dreams at Sandwich, where he carried Ben Curtis’ bag to victory, Sutton was back with John Bickerton, who birdied two of the last three holes to make it through with one to spare.