Great day for Rafa and Shane in Paris.

Rafa Echenique from Argentina has suddenly realised he can play golf.Last week he holed a 3 iron shot for an albatross to finish second in the BMW in Germany.This week he is leading the Open de France in Le Golf National after rounds of 65/67 -10.
Martin Kaymer took 10 shots more today than yesterday and is still joint second on -8 62/72 along with Charl Schwartzel 68/66 and Steve Webster 69/65.
The happiest man in the field is Shane Lowry.Since he turned Pro after winning the Irish Open he has made his first cut.
After a -2,69 yesterday,Shane made a timely birdie at the 18th to hit a one over par 71. His -1 total left him in line for his first pay day.
Gareth Maybin is one ahead of Shane on -2,and Darren Clarke recovered well to add a 69 to his opening 73.His total of level par was matched by Peter Lawrie 71/71 and Damien Mc Grane 70/72 are safely through to the weekend.
The big 3 of Harrington,McDowell and McGinley all have the weekend off.Harrington woes continue as he missed his 5th cut in a row and 8th this year.He has never played so badly and is bound to be worried with the Open Championship only 2 weeks away.
Irish scores:
69/71 Gareth Maybin -2.
69/72 Shane Lowry -1.
73/69 Darren Clarke,71/71 Peter Clarke,70/72 Damien McGrane PAR.
Missed Cut....
71/73 Michael Hoey +2.
72/75 Padraig Harrington,72/75 Graeme McDowell,72/75 Paul McGinley +5.
74/80 Gary Murphy +12.

Kilpatrick misses cut after great start in Switzerland.

Englands John Perry was on 69 the same score as Richard Kilpatrick after the first round of the CREDIT SUISSE CHALLENGE in SWITZERLAND.Perry went on to hit a 67 for a -6 total to lead the event. Kilpatrick went the other way,and finished up missing the cut by taking 79 and finishing +2.
Gareth Shaw returned a 3 under par 70 and with his opening 74 is well placed on -2.
The only other Irish man under par is Colm Moriarty. He hit a 71 to finish on the cut mark of -1.

Irish Scores:
74/70 Gareth Shaw -2.
74/71 Colm Moriarty -1.
74/72 Michael Mc Geady Par.
69/79 Richard Kilpatrick,72/76 Noel Fox +2.
76/75 Alan Murray 76/75 +5.
83/74 Stephen Grant +11.

Richard Kilpatrick top of Irish in Switzerland.

Banbridge golfer,Richard Kilpatrick hasn't played to his potential since turning Professional.A former East of Ireland champion Kilpatrick has a chance to put the records straight after starting the Credit Suisse Challenge tournament on the Challenge tour with a bogey free -4 round of 69.
Englands Stuart Davis and Simon Robinson lead the way on -6, 67.

Noel Fox is sitting on the projected cut mark of -1,but the other 5 Irish have work to do as they are all over par.

Irish scores:
69 Richard Kilpatrick -4.
72 Noel Fox -1.
74 Colm Moriarty,Michael Mc Geady,Gareth Shaw +1.
76 Alan Murray +3
83 Stephen Grant +10.

Shane Lowry in line for first Professional cut !

24 year old German,Martin Kaymer started the Open de France tournament with a bogey,before taking the course apart with 8 birdies and an eagle for a joint course record of -9,62.
All eyes will be on Irish Open champion,Shane Lowry.He has put himself in a good position to make his first cut as a Professional by shooting a 2 under par 69.
It was an up and down round for Shane as he had 2 birdies,3 bogies and a double bogey at the 18th,his 9th to turn on +3. His front 9 was more like his Baltray golf.
He made 3 birdies and an eagle for a nine holes of -5, 31.
Shane is in joint 32nd position with Gareth Maybin. The big 3 of Harrington,Mc Dowell and Mc Ginley will have to improve on their +1 rounds of 72.

Irish scores:
69 Shane Lowry,Gareth Maybin -2.
70 Damien Mc Grane -1
71 Michael Hoey,Peter Lawrie Level.
72 Padraig Harrington,Graeme Mc Dowell,Paul Mc Ginley +1
73 Darren Clarke +2.
74 Gary Murphy +3.

Tom Haylock runs away with Europro event..

Tom Haylock ran away with the Stoke on Nayland Europro event by following up rounds of 68,67 with a sparkling 65 to finish on 16 under par and victory by 8 shots from Austrailian Chris Gaunt.
Local favorite,Jamie Mould was joint 3rd with 4 others on -7.

Tim Rice who only made the cut on +1,was still +1 after 13 holes.He then proceded to make an eagle 3 at the par 5,14th,holed his second shot at the par 4,15th,and birdied the 16th for a closing 67 and joint 12th place on -4.
Paul o Hanlon was only 2 shots behind the leader starting out,but took 78 shots and tumbled down to 21st on -1.
Barrie Trainor and Peter o Keeffe both hit 71s to finish on level par.
Brian McElhinney 74 +1,Jonathan Mallon 79 +7 and Brendan Mc Carroll 80 +8 made up the Irish scores.

Paul o Hanlon leads Irish challenge in Europro event.

Barrie Trainor & Paul o Hanlon led the Irish challenge after 18 holes with -4 68s in the Europro event at Stoke By Nayland.There was mixed fortunes in round 2,when Trainor finished badly for a 77 and only qualified for the final round on the cut mark of +1. o Hanlon went the other way.He started with 3 birdies and completed his round with a 69.Sitting on the -7 mark he is only 2 shots behind the leaders.
7 out of the 17 Irish starters made the cut. Mark o Sullivan was unlucky to miss by 1 after a 2 under par 70 got him back to +2.Justin Kehoe +3 and Mark Campbell +4 all miss out on the final round.
Tom Hayland 67 and James Ruebotham 64 lead on -9,but the man they will all have to beat is the order of merit leader,Steve Surry. Surry had a +1,73 in round one,but hit back today with a fantastic -9 round of 63 to sit on -8.

Irish qualifiers:
Paul o Hanlon 68/69 -7.
Brian Mc Elhinney 70/73 -1.
Brendan Mc Carroll 72/72,Jonathan Mallon 73/71 Level.
Barrie Trainor 68/77,Peter o Keeffe 69/76,Tim Rice 72/73 +1.

Trainor & o Hanlon lead Irish challenge on Europro Tour.

Warrenpoint's Barrie Trainor and the Curragh's Paul o Hanlon lead the Irish challenge in the Stoke By Nayland,Europro event after both returned -4 rounds of 68.
Trainor made the perfect start.Birdie,par,birdie,par,eagle followed by 13 pars,whereas o Hanlon was +1 after 11,before a charge of 3 birdies and an eagle at the 16th also gave him a 68.Peter o Keeffe -3,69 and Brian Mc Elhinney -2,70 are the only 4 out of 17 Irish under par.
The tournament is being led by Craig Housden and Kieran Staunton on -5,67.

Irish Scores.

Barrie Trainor,Paul o Hanlon 68 -4.
Peter o Keeffe 69 -3.
Brian Mc Elhinney 70 -2.
Brendan Mc Carroll,Tim Rice 72 Level.
Paul Mc Donald,Jonathan Mallon,Mark Campbell,Justin Kehoe 73 +1.
Cian Mc Namara,Mark o Sullivan 76 +4.
Greg Bowden 77 +5.
Patrick Geraghty,Daniel Sugrue 78 +6.
Ger Hall 80 +8.
Michael Lavelle 81 +9.