Ireland's big names make early departure

Departure time. Strategically parked outside the clubhouse, the shuttle bus gradually filled up with the lesser mortals who had failed to survive the midway cut and prepared to tackle Dublin's traffic on the cross-city drive to the airport. Others could avail of courtesy cars, but it all amounted to another Friday night exit for many.

At least, this time, the Irish players' who didn't make it to the weekend had no need for airport check-in queues and could simply jump into their cars to drive home. Ryder Cup player Darren Clarke, who had two penalty shots in his round, knew his fate by lunchtime and hit the road to Portrush around the same time as first round pace-setter Colin Montgomerie was teeing off. Ireland's two World Cup winners Padraig Harrington, who was involved in a face-saving operation, and Paul McGinley, also failed to make it. And Philip Walton was another to fall by the wayside.

Five Irishmen did succeed, however. Apart from John McHenry who jumped to a share of the half-way lead, David Higgins, Raymond Burns, Keith Nolan and, fittingly, Druids Glen professional Eamonn Darcy survived the cut which fell at five-over par 147. It meant McGinley missed out by one stroke, while the unfortunate Leslie Walker, the assistant professional at Foxrock, double bogeyed the last when a par would have seen him through, to lose out on the chance of weekend play.

Higgins badly needed to make a cut. At present, he lies in 187th place with prizemoney of £4,821 in the European Tour rankings and he was one of just nine players to shoot rounds in the 60s yesterday.

His second round 69 left him on two over par 144 and with the opportunity to increase his bank balance. "I need to show more patience. I have a poor record over the weekends when I have played too aggressively," said Higgins. The Waterville man had five birdies, the longest putt coming on the 17th - just after he'd bogeyed the 16th - where he sank a 15 footer to take the pressure off him coming up the dreaded last.

Burns knows what it is like to fritter away shots on the 18th. In the opening two rounds, he has taken a triple-bogey seven and a double-bogey six there - but the Banbridge man showed admirable composure to overcome yesterday's six (when it was his ninth hole) to avoid any further disasters. "My short game is good, which is saving me a little," he admitted, although he remains unhappy with his cavity-back irons and is contemplating a return to his old blades for next week's event in Loch Lomond. "I'm missing too many greens with my iron shots," said Burns.

Bray's Nolan, meanwhile, had two double-bogeys on his card - at the first and 10th holes - but still managed to shoot a 74 for three over par 145, still very much in line for a good finish on his professional debut on home soil, while Darcy, using the Ping Anser F putter he rescued from the boot of Dermot Desmond's Bentley, "putted the lights out" on his way to a 72 for 146.