Irishman Damien McGrane battled some torrid conditions to record two birdies in his last three holes and join Spanish hero José Maria Olazábal in a tie for second place on five under par - one shot behind leader David Park - at the rain soaked Turespaña Mallorca Classic after the second round was completed following a 24 hour delay.
McGrane, who had started his second round on Friday at the tenth tee, still had nine holes to play at the tricky, 6568 yard, par 70 Pula Golf Club, and fell back to three under before picking up shots at the seventh and ninth holes to finish with 71 and join Olazábal on five under – with the Spaniard completing his second 18 holes in 69 to record an aggregate total of 135.
“It was nice to play well and steady after such a long delay,” said the Irishman, who is 142nd on the Volvo Order of Merit. “That must have been the longest round of my life!
“It’s all to play for now. I need to hole a few more putts tomorrow, but if I can that then I’ve every chance of winning.”
While McGrane needs to win or finish in the top ten in the last round to continue his quest to keep his European Tour card, Olazábal has to do similar to cement his place in the top 60 on the money list to safeguard his place at the Volvo Masters at Valerrama two weeks from now.
Former Ryder Cup winner Olazábal said: “My goals this week – and next week in the Telefonica Open de Madrid – are to finish well so that I can get into the Volvo Masters and also to get some feel back into my game.
“I don’t feel in control of my swing and have been fighting my iron shots pulling to the left, although I have done a good job with it this week.”
Olazábal’s playing partners, Maarten Lafeber and Lee Westwood, fired respective rounds of 68 and 69.
Westwood, who is fifth on the Volvo Order of Merit with €1,307,762 following his brilliant victories in the BMW International Open and the dunhill links championship, spoke for all of the players when he said that there was nothing that could be done about the tournament being cut from 72 to 54 holes.
“I don’t think anyone wants the tournament to run through to Monday, so you can’t complain that it’s going to be played over 54 holes – it just can’t be helped. You can’t dictate the weather,” he reasoned.
“Going out to finish the second round today, being at the bad end of the draw, it was quite tough to make an impression. I had given myself a lot of chances yesterday but didn’t make the putts so you’re never going to tear it up doing that.
“I suppose it could have been 63 or 64 but it turned out to be 69. The plan should be to go out and attack it tomorrow but that is going to be difficult around this course because there are a lot of out of bounds just next to the fairways and greens. This course can be very penal if you’re slightly off.
“But it’s not out of the question to come back and have a chance of winning – I might be out early tomorrow and get good weather which good become bad for the guys that are out in the afternoon.”
Both McGrane and Olazábal are one stroke behind Welshman Park, who finished his opening 36 holes before torrential rain and lightning storms brought the long delay and left tournament officials no choice but to reduce the competition to 54 holes, with the third and final round to be completed on Sunday.
José Manuel Carriles of Spain and Argentine Ricardo Gonzalez, along with Dutchman Lafeber and Marcel Siem from Germany all completed their second rounds to post two round totals of 136, and join early finishers Benn Barham of England and Henrik Stenson from Sweden on the four under par mark.
With another ten players tied on three under par – and a further five on two under – the Turespaña Mallorca Classic is set for a thrilling finish.
Seventy six players made the cut of three over, and will battle for the €66,660 first prize on Sunday.
