Niall Kearney’s tour status is such that his scheduling from one week to another is in the lap of the gods, but the 34-year-old Dubliner made the most of earning a spot in the field for the Soudal Belgian Open at Rinkven International Golf Club outside Antwerp where a second round 67 for six-under-par 136 moved him into a share of tied-sixth at the halfway stage.
A trio of Germany's Matti Schmid and England's Sam Horsfield and Dale Whitnell claimed the 36-holes lead on eight-under-par 134 but Kearney – just two shots adrift – heads into the weekend with the chance for a breakthrough career win on the DP World Tour.
Having started his second round on the 10th, Kearney got off to a flying start by sinking a 14-footer for birdie on his opening hole and rolled in an eight-footer for another on the 13th before holing from 35 feet on the 14th.
Kearney – currently ranked 543rd in the world rankings – added further birdies on the second hole, from seven feet, and the sixth, from nine feet, before dropping his only shot on the seventh where he pulled his drive into rough.
Both Jonny Caldwell and Cormac Sharvin, however, failed to make the cut.
Twenty-four-year-old Schmid produced the low round of the tournament in signing for a 64 that moved him alongside Horsfield and Whitnell in his quest for a maiden win on the circuit, his previous best being third in the Steyn City Championship in South Africa earlier this year.
“I holed a few nice putts, gave myself looks and holed the putts. I was happy with everything to be honest. I hit the ball well, hit a lot of nice wedges which is what you have to do out here and was able to make some putts,” said Schmid.
Lev Grinberg’s dream tour debut continued into the weekend after the 14-year-old Ukrainian-born Belgian-resident player shot a 69 to add to his opening 70 for 139 to make the cut.
“I played amazing, it’s so nice to play good and make the cut on my home course and hopefully grind out as many birdies as I can and get top-10, that is my goal this weekend,” said Grinberg, the second youngest player in the European Tour’s history to make the cut.
On the LPGA Tour, Stephanie Meadow added a second round 72 to add her opening 71 for a midway total of one-under-par 143 that was set to ensure her presence into the weekend of the Cognizant Founders Cup at Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton, New Jersey, where Australia's Minjee Lee assumed the clubhouse lead.
Lee posted a second round 63 for a midway total of 14-under-par 130, three strokes clear of Lexi Thompson and Madelene Sagstrom.
Unfortunately for Leona Maguire, her run of poor form continued as she carded a second round 76 for 145 to lie outside the cut line.
Leaderboard
British and Irish unless stated, par 71
134 Sam Horsfield 65 69,4 Dale Whitnell 65 69, Matthias Schmid (Ger) 70 64
135 Ricardo Santos (Por) 69 66, Richard Mansell 69 66
136 Ryan Fox (Nzl) 68 68, Jorge Campillo (Esp) 69 67, Ignacio Elvira (Esp) 66 70, Alexander Bjoerk (Swe) 66 70, Adrian Meronk (Pol) 66 70, Matthew Jordan 68 68, Oliver Bekker (Rsa) 67 69, Yannik Paul (Ger) 66 70, Niall Kearney 69 67
137 Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 68 69, Hennie Du Plessis (Rsa) 68 69, Andy Sullivan 71 66, Marcel Schneider (Ger) 70 67, Oliver Farr 71 66, J. C. Ritchie (Rsa) 72 65
138 Victor Perez (Fra) 69 69, Francesco Laporta (Ita) 68 70, Sean Crocker (USA) 69 69, Adrian Otaegui (Esp) 71 67, Wil Besseling (Ned) 69 69, Connor Syme 68 70, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 70 68, Chase Hanna (USA) 70 68
139 Thomas Pieters (Bel) 69 70, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 68 71, Ewen Ferguson 67 72, Grant Forrest 70 69, John Catlin (USA) 72 67, Lev Grinberg (Ukr) 70 69, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 69 70, Callum Shinkwin 65 74, Ashley Chesters 69 70, Richard McEvoy 68 71, Jens Dantorp (Swe) 69 70
140 Jeff Winther (Den) 66 74, Guido Migliozzi (Ita) 69 71, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 70 70, Fabrizio Zanotti (Pry) 70 70, Santiago Tarrio (Esp) 71 69, Lukas Nemecz (Aut) 71 69, Alvaro Quiros (Esp) 66 74, Paul Waring 67 73, Robin Roussel (Fra) 68 72, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 68 72, Garrick Porteous 70 70, Ondrej Lieser (Cze) 70 70, Max Schmitt (Ger) 68 72
141 Ashun Wu (Chn) 70 71, Thriston Lawrence (Rsa) 71 70, Richie Ramsay 71 70, David Horsey 75 66, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 71 70, Alejandro Canizares (Esp) 71 70, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 73 68, Marcel Siem (Ger) 70 71, Hurly Long (Ger) 70 71, Daan Huizing (Ned) 70 71, Gavin Green (Mal) 67 74, Joel Sjoeholm (Swe) 69 72, Josh Geary (Nzl) 70 71, Carlos Pigem (Esp) 73 68, Angel Hidalgo (Esp) 68 73
Missed cut
142 Steven Brown 71 71, James Morrison 69 73, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 70 72, Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 74 68, George Coetzee (Rsa) 71 71, David Drysdale 71 71, Hugo Leon (Chi) 71 71, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 73 69, Joel Stalter (Fra) 70 72, Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 71 71
143 Rafael Cabrera (Esp) 75 68, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 74 69, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 71 72, Darius van Driel (Ned) 69 74, Chris Paisley 73 70, Espen Kofstad (Nor) 69 74, Pep Angles (Esp) 74 69, David Coupland 72 71, Kristian Krogh Johannessen (Nor) 73 70, Jonathan Thomson 74 69
144 Jonathan Caldwell 70 74, Jamie Donaldson 74 70, Maverick Antcliff (Aus) 74 70, Joost Luiten (Ned) 72 72, Frederic Lacroix (Fra) 71 73, Cormac Sharvin 73 71, David Howell 71 73, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Esp) 74 70, Clement Sordet (Fra) 73 71, Jesper Kennegaard (Swe) 72 72
145 Daniel Gavins 73 72, Yente van Doren (Bel) 75 70, Guillaume Watremez (Bel) 71 74, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 73 72, Ricardo Gouveia (Por) 72 73, Niklas Noergaard Moeller (Den) 72 73, Julian Suri (USA) 71 74
146 Sebastian Soederberg (Swe) 73 73, Stephen Gallacher 74 72, Antoine Rozner (Fra) 74 72, Charles Roeland (Bel) 69 77, Alan Ger Bondt (Bel) 75 71, Thomas Detry (Bel) 71 75, Nicolai von Dellingshausen (Ger) 75 71, Andrew Wilson 70 76, Eddie Pepperell 74 72, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 75 71, Ross McGowan 74 72, Oliver Fisher 74 72, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 75 71, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 76 70, Toby Tree 76 70, Matt Ford 72 74, Gregory Havret (Fra) 73 73
147 Brandon Stone (Rsa) 69 78, Christoffer Bring (Den) 74 73, Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 73 74, Matthew Southgate 76 71, Sebastian Garcia (Esp) 73 74, Graeme Storm 72 75, Lars van Meijel (Ned) 69 78, Ben Stow 72 75, Bryce Easton (Rsa) 77 70, Bernd Ritthammer (Ger) 70 77
148 Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 72 76, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 76 72, Louis Theys (Bel) 73 75, Kristof Ulenaers (Bel) 70 78, Shiv Chawrasia (Ind) 70 78, Louis de Jager (Rsa) 74 74
149 Christopher Mivis (Bel) 76 73, Jack Singh-Brar 76 73, Wilco Nienaber (Rsa) 77 72, Lee Slattery 75 74
150 Asaf Cohen (Isr) 77 73, Zach Murray (Aus) 72 78, James Meyer de Beco (Bel) 74 76
151 Samuel Chege (Ken) 75 76, Greg Snow (Ken) 74 77, Lars Buijs (Bel) 74 77, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 79 72
152 Renato Paratore (Ita) 75 77, Huilin Zhang (Chn) 74 78
155 James Skeet (Bel) 75 80, Marc Warren 76 79
157 Niklas Lemke (Swe) 80 77
158 Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 79 79
163 Jarno Tollenaire (Bel) 76 87
