As David Oakley again grabbed the headlines after the second day's play at Royal Portrush yesterday, a few Irish players moved threateningly into contention for a significant pay day tomorrow.

Christy O'Connor Jnr, after his troublesome opening 76, fired a three-under-par 69 yesterday for the best round of the tournament so far. That rocketed him up to joint fourth place, just four strokes behind Oakley who is on three-under 141 at the halfway stage.

O'Connor reckoned he was on the wrong side of the draw, getting the windy conditions both days, and he believes that cost him four shots. "That's an awful lot of shots," he commented. "It is extraordinary that you see two massive chances in wind both days. A very tough draw it was."

O'Connor stormed off with three birdies in the first three holes, and added another at the short sixth. But gave that one back again when he found semi-rough at the next hole.

He pitched to six feet for birdie four at the ninth, and made a two at the short, downhill 11th, hitting his nine-iron tee shot 168 yards. That put him into the red for the first time in the tournament at one under.

It didn't last, and he suffered bogeys at the 13th and 16th, but he brilliantly saved par at the last where he got down from off the green, 50 feet from the flag, with two putts.

"It was lovely when I saw red, and tomorrow I want to get rid of that plus-one as soon as possible. When I get into the red again just look out. I'll be giving it a real lash," promised O'Connor.

Liam Higgins, kept his driver in the bag at all but three holes to produce a 70 for 146, while David Jones made a miraculous recovery from his opening 80 to also card 70 and storm up the leaderboard to 150. But he is nine shots adrift of the overnight leader and that might be too much to make up.

"A tip from Bobby Browne helped me," he revealed. "He told me to widen my back swing and that really did the trick. I was getting too close into the ball. Bobby gave me the same advice at Mount Juliet and I won in Jersey after that. But I had gone back to my old ways and he noticed it this morning."

Higgins, who complained that television cameramen disturbed him around the course, had three birdies and just one bogey. He birdied the long second, reaching the green with a one-iron and eight-iron, and picked up another stroke at the 12th - one of the few places he used the driver.

Oakley posted another sub-par round of 71 to be three-under at the halfway stage. He had five birdies spread over his card, but also a hat-trick of bogeys from the fourth, and another dropped shot at the last where he three-putted from 50 feet.

"I'm not as surprised as many others that I am leading at the halfway mark," he said. "Since the last round in the Irish Open I have an average of just over 68 shots per round. I'm not hitting the ball too hard, and I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and hope for the best.

There were three aces yesterday, with Leonard Owens of Royal Dublin popping his nine-iron tee shot at the third into the hole, but he missed the cut despite of that. Of the 19 Irish who started the tournament only 10 have survived.