Graeme McDowell may have been expected to head the challenge at the China Open this week but is the other form Irish player on the European Tour, Damien McGrane, who has taken up the mantle at the halfway stage.

While McDowell, looking to follow up his victory at the Ballantine's Championship in South Korea last month, endured another disappointing round McGrane lies just one shot off the lead following a second round of 69. Michael Lorenzo-Vera continued to impress as he secured the outright lead on eight-under.

McGrane had a frustrating run on the front nine, making par all the way, but he birdied the par-five 10th and then eagled the par-five 13th to reach seven-under before closing out his round with another run of pars.

"There are 36 holes left and whoever wins will have to play a lot of good golf," said McGrane. "If I play very well I hope to be right up there. It is nice to be there now and gives me all the opportunities."

The Frenchman's lead could have been greater but for a double bogey on the par-four 14th and a bogey on the ninth, his last hole. Lorenzo-Vera also carded an impressive seven birdies and the 23-year-old, winner of the Challenge Tour last year, admitted he was delighted with his round.

"I am super happy," he said. "It was difficult to get some sleep last night as I was thinking too much about what could happen and I am happy to play well today."

Defending champion Markus Brier is four shots off the pace after carding a three-under-par 69 while David Howell's hopes of improving on his second place at the Portuguese Open two weeks ago look unlikely after he carded a 73 to lie one over.

McDowell, meanwhile, carded a double bogey on the par-four 15th, his sixth, and though he did manage to make four birdies, bogeys on the 12th and fifth meant he finished even par for the day and remains one over overall.

Collated second round scores & totals in the European Tour Volvo China Open,
Beijing CBD International GC, Beijing, China

136  Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 67 69

137  Damien McGrane  68 69, Richard Finch 68 69

138  Oliver Wilson 72 66

140  Zane Scotland (Gb) 68 72, Markus Brier (Aut) 71 69, Simon Griffiths 68 72,
Jason Knutzon (USA) 68 72

141  Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 70 71, Airil Rizman (Mal) 69 72, Joost Luiten
(Ned) 68 73, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 73 68

142  Sam Walker 71 71, Seung-yul Noh (Kor) 71 71, Li Chao (Chn) 68 74, Fabrizio
Zanotti (Par) 71 71, Mark Brown (Nzl) 71 71

143  Antonio Lascuna (Phi) 72 71, Todd Vernon (Swi) 71 72, Kangchun Wu (Chn) 70
73, Adam Groom (Aus) 73 70, Simon Wakefield 72 71

144  Scott Strange (Aus) 73 71, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 69 75, Simon Yates 72
72, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 72 72, Miles Tunnicliff 70 74, Wen Teh Lu (Tpe)
73 71

145  Gaurav Ghei (Ind) 76 69, Frankie Minoza (Phi) 73 72, Peter Whiteford 73 72,
Graeme McDowell  73 72, David Howell 72 73, Phillip Price 74 71, Rafael Echenique
(Arg) 69 76, Rhys Davies 71 74, David Bransdon (Aus) 73 72

146  Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 72 74, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 75 71, Ross Fisher 74
72, Stuart Manley 72 74, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 74 72, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 72
74, John Bickerton 70 76, Ross Bain 73 73, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 72 74, Raphael
Jacquelin (Fra) 75 71, Marcus Both (Aus) 73 73, Paul Lawrie 71 75

147  Francesco Molinari (Ita) 75 72, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 73 74, Prom Meesawat
(Tha) 71 76, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 75 72, Marcel Siem (Ger) 76 71, Shiv Shankar
Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 74 73, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 73 74, Scott Barr (Aus) 73
74, Gavin Flint (Aus) 73 74, Sam Little 74 73, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 71 76

148  Wei Chih Lu (Tha) 75 73, Julio Zapata (Arg) 70 78, David Frost (Rsa) 76 72,
Mu Hu (Chn) 74 74, Paul Broadhurst 76 72, Sung Lee (Kor) 73 75, Wei-Huang Wu
(Tpe) 73 75, Barry Lane 78 70, Keng-chi Lin (Tai) 75 73

The following players missed the cut

149  Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 69 80, Garry Houston 76 73, Scott Hend (Aus) 75 74,
Carl Suneson (Spa) 76 73, Thammanoon Srirot (Tha) 74 75, Daniel Im (USA) 74 75,
Peter Hedblom (Swe) 78 71

150  Martin Wiegele (Aut) 74 76, Rahil Gangjee (Ind) 77 73, David Gleeson (Aus)
76 74, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 75 75, Oliver Fisher 74 76, Gary Simpson (Aus) 74
76, Tony Carolan (Aus) 77 73, Keith Horne (Rsa) 72 78, Zhi-peng Fan (Chn) 74 76,
Peter O'Malley (Aus) 74 76

151  Tian Yuan (Chn) 80 71, Wen-Tang Lin (Tai) 73 78, Shun a Wu (Chn) 76 75,
Pelle Edberg (Swe) 73 78, Anda Liu (Chn) 72 79, Chawalit Plaphol (Tha) 78 73,
Peter Lawrie 79 72, Iain Pyman 77 74, Ming Jie Huang (Chn) 76 75, Stephen Dodd
75 76, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 73 78, Jong Yul Suk (Kor) 73 78, Angelo Que (Phi) 73
78, Adam Blyth (Aus) 77 74

152  Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 75 77, Wen-zhang Yang (Chn) 74 78, Richard Lee (Nzl)
74 78, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 77 75, Steven Tan (Mal) 74 78, Kane Webber (USA) 78
74, Gary Murphy 75 77, Iain Steel (Mal) 72 80, Hao Yuan (Chn) 75 77, Chinarat
Phadungsil (Tha) 79 73, Simon Hurd 76 76

153  Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 73 80, Bryan Saltus (USA) 76 77, Pedro Linhart
(Spa) 76 77, Young-Woo Nam (Kor) 78 75, Unho Park (Aus) 75 78, Simon Khan 74 79

154  Ter-Chang Wang (Tpe) 82 72, Zaw Moe (Kor) 76 78, Andrew Coltart 76 78,
Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 76 78, Wei-hai Kong (Chn) 73 81, Chris Rodgers 78 76,
Anthony Wall 81 73, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 76 78, Gui Ming Liao (Chn) 76 78,
Jamie Donaldson 72 82, Lei Shang (Tpe) 78 76

155  Leif Westerberg (Swe) 73 82, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 79 76, Robert Dinwiddie
75 80, Tom Whitehouse 76 79, Ted Oh (Kor) 78 77

156  Anthony Kang (USA) 83 73, Juvic Pagunsan (Phi) 74 82, Hendrik Buhrmann
(Rsa) 76 80, Wen-gen Zheng (Hkg) 79 77, Chi-huang Tsai (Tai) 80 76, Ross McGowan
76 80, Martin Rominger (Swi) 80 76

157  Jian-feng Ye (Chn) 81 76, Artemio-hiromasa Murakami (Phi) 81 76, Danny Chia
(Mal) 77 80

158  Shiv Kapur (Ind) 79 79

159  Guo-wu Zhou (Chn) 80 79

160  Xiong-hui Ye (Chn) 84 76

161  Amandeep Johl (Ind) 80 81, Cui Lin Gu (Chn) 76 85, Ben Leong (Mal) 81 80

163  Yong-Huan Huang (Tpe) 86 77, Yong-hong Deng (Chn) 77 86, Digvijay Singh
(Ind) 83 80

167  Jian Hou (Chn) 87 80, Xiao-ma Chen (Chn) 82 85, Rong Shen (Chn) 82 85