Andalucian Open Update:Never mind being in contention heading into the weekend of a European Tour event, Paul McGinley must be glad to simply be back and able to swing a golf club once more. After returning from a sixth bout of knee surgery the Dubliner is firmly in the mix at the €1million Andalucian Open in Malaga.
McGinley’s problematic knee is well documented and was last operated on back in November. He returned to action in Morocco last week but couldn’t keep pace with eventual winner Rhys Davies from Wales and missed the cut with rounds of 76, 71.
This week at the Parador course, the Ryder Cup hero upped his game with rounds of 68, 66 to get to six under and finds himself within striking distance of the leaders at the halfway stage.
McGinley enjoyed two even halves of 33, an eagle three at the far-five 14th proving the highlight of the inward run. He dropped shots at the sixth and 12th but enjoyed four birdies.
The 43-year-old is four off the pace set by South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen and England’s Sam Hutsby, whose matching 63s left them on 10 under, two ahead of defending champion Soren Kjeldsen (67) in third.
Rookie James Morrison also shot 63 in a round containing just 19 putts, leaving the Englishman in a group alongside McGinley in a tie for ninth.
McGinley is easily the leading home player from a nine-strong Irish contingent. Gareth Maybin was next after today’s 67 left the Ballyclare professional on three under. Fellow northerners Darren Clarke (68) and Michael Hoey (69) were a shot further back on two under.
Irish Open champion Shane Lowry and Qualifying School graduate Simon Thornton made it safely into the weekend after respective rounds of 67, 70 left the pair on one under alongside tournament host, Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez (68).
Peter Lawrie (72) and Gary Murphy (71) scraped in on the cut mark which dropped to level par late in the afternoon. It meant Damien McGrane was the only Irish player to miss the cut, for despite a rallying 68 he missed by one.
Collated second round scores & totals in the European Tour Open de Andalucia de Golf, Parador de Malaga, Malaga, Spain
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 70):
130Sam Hutsby 67 63, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 67 63
132Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 65 67
133 Gabriel Canizares (Spa) 69 64, Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 68 65, Peter Whiteford 69 64, Paul Lawrie 65 68, Richard Finch 68 65
134Robert Coles 69 65, Mark Brown (Nzl) 66 68, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 68 66, Paul McGinley 68 66, James Morrison 71 63
135Joost Luiten (Ned) 66 69, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 68 67, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 66 69
136Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 68 68, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 68 68, Richard Bland 68 68, Gary Orr 68 68, Paul Waring 74 62, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 72 64, Gary Lockerbie 69 67, Jamie Donaldson 67 69, Ariel Canete (Arg) 68 68, Bradley Dredge 66 70
137John Parry 68 69, Steve Webster 71 66, Gareth Maybin 70 67, David Lynn 67 70, Anthony Wall 68 69, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 71 66, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 66 71, Marco Ruiz (Par) 70 67, Mark F Haastrup (Den) 69 68, Stephen Gallacher 67 70, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 69 68, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 72 65, Santiago Luna (Spa) 73 64
138Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 67 71, David Howell 69 69, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 71 67, Darren Clarke 70 68, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 69 69, Jamie Elson 70 68, Stephan Gross Jnr (Ger) 70 68, Dale Whitnell 68 70, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 67 71, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 68 70, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 71 67, Michael Hoey 69 69.
139Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 70 69, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 70 69, Robert Rock 68 71, David Drysdale 71 68, Stephen Dodd 73 66, Marc Warren 71 68, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 72 67, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 71 68, Shane Lowry 72 67, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 66 73, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 70 69, Simon Thornton 69 70, Manuel Quiros (Spa) 71 68, Thomas Levet (Fra) 69 70
140Andrew Tampion (Aus) 70 70, Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 68 72, Danny Willett 74 66, Peter Lawrie 68 72, Andrew Oldcorn 71 69, Alexander Noren (Swe) 69 71, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 71 69, Alastair Forsyth 71 69, Gregory Havret (Fra) 73 67, Richie Ramsay 73 67, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 71 69, Phillip Price 72 68, Nick Dougherty 72 68, Julien Quesne (Fra) 71 69, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 69 71, Gary Murphy 69 71, Phillip Archer 66 74, Barry Lane 70 70
The following players missed the cut
141Marcel Siem (Ger) 67 74, Fredrik Ohlsson (Swe) 70 71, Damien McGrane 73 68, Christian Nilsson (Swe) 68 73, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 71 70, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 68 73, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 72 69, Javier Colomo (Spa) 69 72, Scott Drummond 74 67, Steven O'Hara 72 69, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 72 69, Gary Boyd 71 70, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 75 66, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 69 72
142Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 73 69, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 69 73, David Horsey 71 71, George Coetzee (Rsa) 74 68, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 72 70, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 73 69, Raul Quiros (Spa) 69 73, David Dixon 73 69, Tano Goya (Arg) 68 74
143Chris Gane 74 69, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 72 71, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 73 70, Richard McEvoy 75 68, Peter Baker 72 71, Rhys Davies 70 73, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 73 70, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 74 69, Carl Suneson (Spa) 73 70, Andrew McArthur 71 72, Markus Brier (Aut) 73 70, Miles Tunnicliff 72 71, James Kamte (Rsa) 71 72, Mark Foster 73 70
144Christian Cevaer (Fra) 73 71, Andrew Coltart 70 74, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 72 72, Johan Edfors (Swe) 72 72, Graeme Storm 76 68, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 73 71, Paul Broadhurst 75 69
145Anton Haig (Rsa) 73 72, Andrew Butterfield 72 73, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 73 72, Kenneth Ferrie 74 71, Sam Little 74 71, Pablo Martin (Spa) 70 75
146Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 71 75, Simon Khan 75 71
147Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 76 71, Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spa) 76 71, James Ruth 72 75
148Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 75 73
149Francisco Cea (Spa) 76 73
152Clodomiro Carranza (Arg) 73 79
WD: Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 77