High flyer McArthur takes clear

lead in Challenge Tour event

From Steve Todd, ChallengeTour Press Officer
An eagle on his opening hole was the catalyst for Andrew McArthur’s seven under par round of 65 which gave the Scot the lead at the halfway mark in the second round of the Reale Challenge de España.
McArthur, pictured right by Cal Carson Golf Agency, hit a seven-iron second shot to within two feet of the pin and then holed his putt, before picking up two more shots in the next three holes for a superb start to his round.
The 29 year old former Scottish amateur champion, who is chasing his third consecutive top 10 finish on the European Challenge Tour, moved to 10 under par at the halfway mark at the Casino Club de Golf Retamares, Madrid, four shots clear of Italian Gregory Molteni, England’s Gareth Davies and fellow Scot Jamie McLeary.
McArthur’s putting was the key to his fine round, dropping only one shot today when he three-putted the fourth hole.
He said: “It was a good round. I holed lots of putts but I did not play fantastic today. The thing is that it seems to be easy when practising but when it comes to the tournament, it is a very hard work for me. It takes a lot of concentration.
“The key today was definitely the putter. I hit the driver well today but every shot was tough.
“About three or four weeks ago I started working with my coach, Ian Rae, the Scottish Golf Union national coach, on my set-up. My body and the club face weren’t correctly aligned so I am working especially on that.”
Wil Besseling carded a four under par round of 68 to move to six under par for the tournament as he chases his second win of 2008 following victory in the II Club Colombia Masters.
SECOND-ROUND TOTALS

Par 144 (2 x 72)

134 A McArthur 69 65
137 J McLeary (Sco) 65 72, G Molteni (Ita) 67 70
138 W Besseling (Ned) 70 68, G Davies (Eng) 69 69,
M Ruiz (Par) 67 71
139 E Saltman (Sco) 72 67, G Maybin (NIrl) 71 68, G Lockerbie (Eng) 66 73, M Tullo (Chi) 70 69
140 R Santos (Por) 69 71, R Karlberg (Swe) 69 71, O Whiteley (Eng) 69 71, F Ohlsson (Swe) 68 72
141 L Saltman (Sco) 66 75, V Blaquez (Spa) 67 74, L Brovold (Nor) 65 76, A Garci-Heredia (Spa) 70 71
142 B Pettersson 70 72, M Searle (Eng) 72 70, R Gonzalez (Arg) 72 70, S Grant (Irl) 69 73, A Viallvincencio (Arg) 71 71, S Robinson (Eng) 70 72, S Grant (Irl) 69 73, E Goya (Arg) 72 70, A Bruschi (Ita) 71 71
143 C Russo (Fra) 70 73, R Harris (Eng), F Calmels (Fra), M Reale (Ita), J Skold (Swe) 71 72, M Bliss (Can) 70 73, F Calmels (Fra) 71 72, M Carrilies (Spa) 70 73, R Ramsay (Sco) 70 73
144 P Del Grosso (Arg) 71 73, C Garcia 73 71, M Hingley (Eng), C Balmaseda (Spa), P Worthington (Eng), S Jamieson (Sco) 69 75, R Quiros (Spa) 70 74
145 S Webster (Eng) 70 75, Y El Hassani (Mor), J Wahlqvist (Swe) 71 74, J Adarraga Gomez (Spa) 70 75, C Del Corral (Spa), S Lewton (Eng) 71 74
146 M Zions (Aus) 70 76, I Urquizu (Spa) 74 72, M Martin (Spa) 70 76, P O'Keeffe (Irl) 71 75, J Heath (Eng) 71 75, R Kilpatrick (NIrl) 72 74, J Parron (Spa) 73 73, A Salto (Spa) 71 75
147 J Little (Eng) 71 76, S Saavedra (Arg), B Alvarado (Chi) 75 72, M Ford (Eng) 71 76, S Browne (Irl) 72 75, K Jorgensen (Den) 74 73, T Dier (Ger) 72 75
148 M Mancebo (Spa) 74 74, K Harper (Eng), F Roca (Spa) 76 72, S Reale (Ita) 67 81, J Garcia (Spa), F Valera (Spa), C Aronsen (Nor) 74 74, J Zafra (Spa) 70 78, D Barbetti (Arg) 75 73, P Dwyer (Eng) 71 77
149 H Santos (Por) 74 75, M Haastrup (Den) 72 77, C Moriarty (Irl) 75 74, A Andersson (Swe) 74 75, A Pascual (Spa) 75 74, C Moriarty (Irl) 75 74
150 J Kehoe (Irl) 73 77, M McGeady (Irl) 73 77, C Cardeza (Arg) 72 78, A Mellor (Eng), P Pinto (Arg) 74 76, C Reimbold (Ger) 75 75, A Mellor (Eng) 76 74, A Domingo (Spa) 71 79, L Glagi (Ita) 74 76, R Sawne (Ned) 73 77, J Lorca (Spa) 76 74
151 D Marmion (Eng) 76 75, M Mackenzie (Eng) 76 75, P Bech (Spa) 80 71, T Cruz (Por) 77 74, B Grace (RSA) 80 72, M Hoey (NIrl) 80 72, M Monguzzi (Arg) 74 77
152 J Mazaro (Spa) 79 73, J OCejo (Spa) 73 79, S Juul (Den) 75 77, E Thomson (Sco) 75 77
153 S Seijo (Spa) 72 81, M Rodriguez (Arg) 75 78, P Gustafsson (Swe) 76 77, P Calvo (Spa) 79 74, C Quevedo (Spa) 73 80, M Duque (Spa) 75 78, P Herriera (Spa) 76 77
154 M Laskey (Wal) 75 79, S Ottosen (Den) 80 74, A Doniga (Spa) 81 73J Foret (Fra) 75 81
155 K Berger (Ger) 80 75, A Sundsten (Nor) 79 76, N Ferrari (Ger) 75 70, G Vicente Elena (Spa) 75 80
156 R McEvoy (Eng) 76 80
157 D Altamiano (Arg) 82 75, P Barth (Swe) 77 80, I Giner (Spa) 80 77, D Borda (Spa) 74 83, D Suazo (Spa) 83 76
160 M Ruiz Garcia (Spa) 79 81, T Rice (Irl) 78 83
161 D Brooks (Eng) 78 83
164 A Joudar (Mor) 79 85
167 T Benslimane (Mor) 86 81