Lonard leads Irish Open by two

Ever since beating Tiger Woods back in 1995 – one at the Walker Cup, the other at the Open – Stephen Gallacher and Steve Webster have lived with the knowledge that much is expected of them in their European Tour careers.

To date the 29-year-olds have played a combined 407 events and not once tasted victory. But that could change – for only one of them, obviously – at the Nissan Irish Open this weekend.

Paired together for the opening two rounds at County Louth, Gallacher reached halfway on eight under par and lies in joint second place with South African James Kingston, two strokes behind Australian Peter Lonard.

Webster is one further back and there must be encouragement for the two Britons from the fact that Lonard and Kingston are seeking their first victories on the circuit as well. The quartet have 11 second place finishes between them, with Webster leading that particular category with five.

“You try not to think about it,” said Gallacher when the inevitable question arose about his long wait for a title.

“You try to get on with it and hopefully learn from all the experiences. I feel I have the game now, which is half the battle. I’ve a bit more self-belief and I’ve become a bit more consistent not just in the way I play, but the way I think.”

Still better known as the nephew of former Ryder Cup captain and cousin of television presenter Kirsty, Gallacher is already enjoying the best season of his career.

The former Scottish amateur champion is 28th on the Order of Merit with nearly £280,000 and had his second runners-up finish at the Seville Open in April. The other came at the Great North Open at Slaley Hall near Newcastle three years ago.

Webster, from Warwickshire, was leading amateur in the Open at St Andrews nine years ago, his 24th place being 42 places higher than Woods. But while the American captured two of his first seven events as a professional Webster is none for 227.

Few would have believed he would still have been waiting when he won the tour qualifying school at his first visit, but he had go back the following year and while exempt ever since is still to break through.

He lost a play-off to Retief Goosen in the 2001 Madrid Open and just missed out again at the South African Open in January when defending champion Trevor Immelman came through with a closing 67 to beat him by three.

Both Gallacher and Webster scored two under par 70s in the more testing wind, with Webster saying: “We pulled each other along. Stephen knows it the same as I do that we should have won by now, but all you can do is keep trying to put yourself in position.”

Lonard shared the first round lead with compatriot Nick O’Hern and added a 70 to that dazzling 64, while, quite remarkably, Kingston had five successive birdies from the second for the second day running as he shot 68.

“I don’t know what’s happening – I must have a love affair with those few holes,” he said.

Lonard got off to a flying birdie-eagle start, but followed that with a bogey six and played the remaining holes in level par.

Sandy Lyle, joint fifth after his opening 67, resumed with two birdies, but lost vital ground when he bogeyed the 11th and double-bogeyed the short 15th. He finished with a 74 and is now seven back at five under.

Darren Clarke is on the same mark and Padraig Harrington one better off, Harrington managing another 70 despite a recurrence of neck and shoulder trouble in his breakfast-time warm-up.

“I spent the last 20 minutes before teeing off trying to sort it out and couldn’t really swing,” said Dubliner.

“Over-practising is the problem, but I’m obsessive – I have to go and work on my game. I keep pushing it to the limit, let’s say. I’m off to get more treatment and you’ll probably see me on the range later.”

David Howell and Ian Poulter, eighth and 10th in the Ryder Cup points standings, both missed the cut, Howell by one on one over and Poulter by three after adding the tournament to his schedule in the hope of winning and making the last month of the qualifying race less stressful.

Luke Donald made it through at two under, but champion Ben Curtis suffered his fourth successive missed cut on European soil, slumping to seven over with rounds of 77 and 74 and compatriot Ricky Barnes, American amateur champion two years ago and 21st in the 2003 Masters, fared even worse. An 80 dropped him to 13 over and last place.

He will certainly remember Ireland – he was disqualified from the European Open three weeks ago for a scorecard mistake.

Totals after the second round totals in the European Tour Nissan Iirsh Open, County Louth Golf Club, County Louth

(Gbr and Irl unless stated, par 72):

(x) denotes amateurs

134 Peter Lonard (Aus) 64 70

136 Stephen Gallacher 66 70, James Kingston (Rsa) 68 68

137 Brett Rumford (Aus) 66 71, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 69 68, Steve Webster 67 70, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 67 70, Roger Chapman 69 68

138 Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 70 68, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 68 70, Peter O’Malley (Aus) 69 69, Stephen Dodd 69 69, Nick O’Hern (Aus) 64 74

139 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 69 70, Fredrik Andersson (Swe) 67 72, Terry Price (Aus) 72 67

140 David Carter 70 70, Andrew Oldcorn 71 69, Nick Flanagan (Aus) 70 70, Paul Broadhurst 73 67, Padraig Harrington 70 70, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 72 68, Ben Mason 69 71, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 70 70, Peter Lawrie 67 73

141 Jorge Berendt (Arg) 72 69, Julien Clement (Swi) 70 71, Christopher Hanell (Swe) 70 71, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 69 72, David Higgins 68 73, David Park 71 70, Darren Clarke 70 71, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 68 73, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 70 71, Sandy Lyle 67 74

142 Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 71 71, Anthony Wall 70 72, Martin Maritz (Rsa) 71 71, Damien McGrane 71 71, Robert Rock 72 70, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 71 71, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 72 70, Mark Roe 67 75, Bradley Dredge 71 71, Soren Hansen (Den) 69 73, Mark Foster 72 70, Peter Fowler (Aus) 70 72, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 73 69, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 70 72, Graeme McDowell 73 69, Peter Baker 70 72, Luke Donald 71 71, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 68 74

143 Nick Dougherty 71 72, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 71 72, John Dwyer 72 71, Ian Woosnam 76 67, Raymond Russell 70 73, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 68 75, Gary Evans 77 66, Gordon Brand Jnr 70 73, Iain Pyman 72 71, Cesar Monasterio (Arg) 70 73, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 70 73, Simon Dyson 72 71, Stuart Little 71 72

144 Michael Jonzon (Swe) 74 70, Johan Edfors (Swe) 73 71, Ivo Giner (Spa) 72 72, Alastair Forsyth 73 71, Gary Murphy 71 73, Paul McGinley 73 71, John Bickerton 71 73, Jamie Spence 73 71

The following players missed the halfway cut:

145 Andrew Marshall 72 73, Pierre Fulke (Swe) 74 71, Martin Wiegele (Aut) 71 74, Mark Davis 72 73, Paul Lawrie 71 74, Paul Eales 70 75, Fernando Roca (Spa) 72 73, (x) James Heath 73 72, David Howell 73 72, Nobuhito Sato (Jpn) 71 74, Gary Emerson 69 76, Mattias Nilsson (Swe) 71 74, Steven O’Hara 72 73, Rob Rashell (USA) 70 75

146 Tom Whitehouse 72 74, Simon Wakefield 66 80, Neil Manchip 73 73, Philip Walton 73 73, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 74 72, Gary Orr 70 76, Kenneth Ferrie 73 73, Daniel Gaunt (Aus) 74 72, Jose Manuel Carriles (Spa) 71 75

147 Miles Tunnicliff 71 76, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 71 76, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 74 73, Philippe Lima (Fra) 71 76, Damian Mooney 72 75, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 73 74, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 72 75, Diego Borrego (Spa) 69 78, Ian Poulter 75 72

148 Brendan McGovern 76 72, Alan McLean 72 76, Martin Lemesurier 71 77, Philip Golding 72 76, Matthew Cort 75 73, James Hepworth 77 71, Craig Spence (Aus) 73 75, Andrew Coltart 71 77

149 Jamie Elson 74 75, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 71 78, Robert Coles 79 70, Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 77 72, Matthew Blackey 74 75, Gregory Havret (Fra) 75 74, Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 73 76, Santiago Luna (Spa) 71 78, Colm Moriarty 77 72, Richard McEvoy 75 74, Sebastian Fernandez (Arg) 74 75

150 Greg Owen 75 75, Jonathan Lomas 76 74, Leslie Walker 76 74, Anders Hansen (Den) 75 75, Dean Robertson 76 74, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 71 79

151 Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 77 74, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 75 76, Ben Curtis (USA) 77 74, Rolf Muntz (Ned) 76 75, Euan Little 76 75, Simon Khan 73 78, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 78 73

152 (x) Craig Smith 75 77, Per Nyman (Swe) 75 77, Chris Gane 73 79, David Dixon 78 74

153 Malcolm Mackenzie 76 77, Darren Leng 75 78, Marc Farry (Fra) 74 79, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 78 75, John Murray 76 77

154 Daniel Sugrue 74 80, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 77 77

155 (x) Mark Campbell 80 75, Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa) 76 79

157 Ricky Barnes (USA) 77 80

Retired: David Lynn