Irish golf fans endured a mixture of good and bad news as the Mallorca Classic reached its halfway stage at the Pula Golf Club. The former came via Gary Murphy, whose battle to keep his European Tour card remained on course when he moved into a share of the lead with Niclas Fasth. The latter came from Padraig Harrington who missed the cut, thus ending his hopes of moving ahead of Paul Casey in this, the penultimate counting event in the enthralling race to be the 2006 European Tour Number One.
At the start of the week, Murphy occupied 118th place on the Order of Merit, the last place for those who will keep their playing privileges automatically for the 2007 season. The 34 year old – who has missed his last four cuts – knew he faced a big week and has risen to the challenge superbly over the first two days.
Renowned as a doughty battler, Murphy opened up with a four under par 66 in Thursday’s opening round and followed that with a gritty 71 on Friday in testing, windy conditions at the Majorca venue, matching exactly the scores of Fasth, for a three under par total of 137, the duo one shot clear of Scotland’s Marc Warren.
“Maybe I need a little bit of stress to get the best out of myself and play a bit better,” joked Murphy, who reached the turn in one over par 36 before coming home in level par 35, his only departures from par being a bogey four at the 13th and a birdie three at the 14th.
“I’m pleased with myself up to here but it is still not going to be an easy weekend. We are still only halfway there and I can’t rest on my laurels. I have to go out and try and hit as many greens as possible over the weekend and take it from there. Pars are your friends out here because the conditions are so tough.”
One man who concurred with those sentiments was joint leader Fasth who steadied his own personal ship with eight straight pars to finish his round, a run in direct contrast to his opening ten holes which featured four bogeys and three birdies.
“It was extremely tough out there and the wind was constant pretty much all of the day, it didn’t really start dying a little bit until we had about two or three holes to go,” said Fasth, who is aiming for a Spanish double success on The 2006 European Tour International Schedule after having won the Andalucia Open de España Valle Romano at San Roque in April.
“When it is like that you have to feel a lot of your shots but sometimes you have no option but to guess. It is hard going, but if you keep playing well you can get it round. I am playing well just now but I holed really nothing today. If a few putts go in over the weekend, I’ll be there or thereabouts on Sunday.”
Given the conditions, third placed Marc Warren’s 68 – which equalled the best round of the day, was an impressive feat. The 25 year old Scot, many people’s favourite to win The 2006 Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year on The European Tour following his maiden victory in the EnterCard Scandinavian Masters in August, started from the tenth then carded three birdies in six holes from the first to finish on two under par 138.
“I'm very pleased with that,” said the former Walker Cup player. “You almost have to put the driver away on this course because if you miss the fairways you are in deep trouble. It's so tough out there, if you lose your concentration for one shot then it will be a bogey or a double bogey.”
Leading the home Spanish challenge is Diego Borrego, who matched Warren’s second round 68 to move fourth on one under par 139, with the man most people expect to see pick up the trophy on Sunday night, Ryder Cup hero Sergio Garcia, in a share of fifth place on level par 140.
A measure of how tough conditions were, aside from the fact that only four players finished their two rounds under par, was the fact that that cut fell at eight over par 148, equalling the highest cut to par in European Tour event in 2006 outside the Majors, that coming in the South African Airways Open at Fancourt Golf Club where it was eight over par 154. The highest cut to par all season on Tour came in the US Open Championship at Winged Foot Golf Club in June, the mark being nine over par 149.
One of the players who did not attain or better that score was Padraig Harrington. Having triumphed in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews two weeks ago to move to second on the Order of Merit, the Irishman changed his schedule and came to Majorca looking to close the gap on the man currently in pole position, England’s Paul Casey, if not overtake him with a victory.
An opening 77 was not the ideal start for the Irishman, however, and although he tried hard in the second round, a four over par 74 left him on 11 over par 151, three shots too many for him to feature in the weekend’s action.
“That’s golf, it sometimes goes like that,” he admitted philosophically. “It was difficult conditions out there and it was a course you wanted to be ahead of rather than trying to attack it – I just left myself too much to do.”
With Casey and third placed David Howell not in action, the only man who can now shake things up at the top end of the Order of Merit is the person currently in fourth place, Robert Karlsson.
Should the Swede win the tournament he will leapfrog both Howell and Harrington into second place – any other finish will see him remain in fourth but close the gap on the leading trio as they all head into the final event of the season, the Volvo Masters at Club de Golf Valderrama next week.
And at the halfway stage, Karlsson cannot be counted out for opening rounds of 71-71 for a two over par total of 142 have left him in a share of 15th place, only five shots adrift of Fasth and Murphy.
