Wilson, Westwood among four halfway leaders at The 3 Irish Open
BALTRAY, Ireland - Oliver Wilson defied the rain, the cold and a couple of injuries to keep alive his hopes of finally registering his first European Tour victory.
A runner-up no fewer than eight times - five of them in the last 18 months - Wilson added a 68 to his opening 66 for a ten under par halfway total in The 3 Irish Open at County Louth.
Doubtful before the start because of neck trouble and a chest inflammation called costro-chondritis, The Ryder Cup player was the early clubhouse leader with Swede Johan Edfors and Dane Søren Kjeldsen.
Lee Westwood then added a 66 to create a four-way tie in the clubhouse, helped by six birdies in eight holes, but Italian Francesco Molinari, who broke the course record with his opening 63, remained eight under with three to play and had missed a chance to spread the field.
At least he was still in. Francesco Molinari of Italy was disqualified after signing for a wrong score when his scores on the 12th and 13th holes were transposed on the scorecard. Molinari, who set a new course record on the first round, was right in the mix while Northern Ireland's Michael Hoey disqualified himself after the discovery that he had been carrying a 15th club - one too many - in his bag. He was two under at the time.
The Estoril Open de Portugal champion came across it during his second round, but instead of merely having to add penalty strokes he knew he could not continue because he had signed for a wrong first round score.
"I just realised before I was about to hit a shot that underneath all of the wet gear in my bag was an extra club.
"I always have a rescue club and two iron with me every week, but I just presumed my caddie knew that I wouldn't be taking the rescue because of this course.
"It wasn't taken out - it's partly my fault, partly his I would say. We didn't even discuss it.
"It's so stupid and I can't believe it because I was playing well and trying to get moving up the leaderboard."
Padraig Harrington's first task on his return - not by helicopter anymore because of the weather - was to make sure he survived the halfway cut and by improving from one over to two under with two to go he was doing just enough.
To everybody's relief the weather was starting to improve - but it needed to.
American star John Daly had to wait to see if he had done enough to qualify for the last two rounds, but an 18 foot closing birdie putt might just have saved him.
After two early double bogeys, last week's BMW Italian Open runner-up recovered somewhat for a 75, having opened with a 68.
The Scottish duo of Alastair Forsyth and Gary Orr finished their second rounds one off the lead at nine under, and were joined by Nick Dougherty who was three under for the day through seven.Return to Other Tours archives