Des Smyth spent a few days at home last week tinkering with his swing. And the fruits of that labour - as well as the timely delivery of a new Odyssey broom handle putter - yesterday brought a new sense of purpose to the 46-year-old former Ryder Cup player who showed Ireland's so-called "young guns" how to grind out a score in the wind.

His last four rounds of golf have been exceptionally satisfying. Smyth booked his ticket into the championship by leading the final qualifying at West Lancs last Monday, but his feat in carving out a second-round 69 for a midway total of three-over-par 143 at Royal Birkdale finally brought a smile back to his face.

"I've had a dog of a year," said Smyth, languishing in 141st place in the European Order of Merit. "This is the first bit of light I've seen all season."

Smyth's endeavours were in stark contrast to the other Irish players. Philip Walton was playing solid golf and was very much a contender until back-to-back double-bogeys at the 16th and 17th (where he lost a ball in a bush) not only ruined his card, but effectively his championship, too. Walton at least had the satisfaction of surviving the cut, unlike last year's runner-up Darren Clarke and Irish World Cup winning pairing Paul McGinley and Padraig Harrington.

It was somewhat appropriate that Smyth's renaissance arrived in the wind. "I hope it continues to blow for the weekend," he said. Yesterday, Smyth had just one bogey - the least of any player in the field - and two birdies, but most pertinent was probably the statistic that he didn't hole any putt longer than ten feet. "I just played solidly and kept trying to make par," he said.

"I haven't set myself any target other than to make the top 20. That will give me an exemption for next year. I'm not thinking about the money."

Smyth's only bogey came at the sixth - the long 480 yards par four, which caught out so many players - but he returned home with birdies at the 10th and 17th.

Walton slipped up over the closing stretch. "Have you got a Bandaid to stop the bleeding?" he asked, bitterly hurt by the finish which left him with a 76 for four-over-par 144. "I'm very, very disappointed. If I'd managed to finish one under or level par I'd have been right up there, but it's now going to be very hard to make up those birdies over the weekend."

Walton, among the early starters, was "drowned" with rain for the front nine, but held it together nicely until the closing holes. He bogeyed the 13th, where he was in a fairway bunker, to return to level par but then drove into rough at the 16th and doublebog eyed and found the rough again at the 17th and his six-iron recovery went "straight left" into a bush. He didn't find it, and signed for another double-bogey. A brave sand-save for par at the last didn't ease the pain.

The rest of the Irish suffered miserably. With the cut falling on six-over-par 146, Clarke's 75 put him two shots too many; McGinley had a 75 for 147; and Harrington finished with a 76 for 149. Graham Spring's British Open debut finished poorly, with an 80 for 154, but English-born Robert Giles, the assistant professional at Warrenpoint, showed great character to forge a 74 for 146 to make the cut on the limit.