Ryder Cup contenders are in the Czech Open mix

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE

Thirteen players are separated by only two shots at the halfway stage of the Czech Open 2010 - and they include two of the men chasing a Ryder Cup place.

Peter Hanson, 15th on the points table, shares the lead on seven under par with fellow Swede Fredrik Widmark.

England's Simon Dyson, one spot below Hanson in the cup race with only one more week to come, is on five under as he also seeks the win which would take him into the all important top nine.

Hanson, who received an invitation to the event on Monday, added a 70 to his opening 67 and said: "I left four or five shots out there, but I'm feeling good about my game.

“I’m driving okay and hit my irons shots very nicely. It is all about making those putts. I felt I could go low today and had a lot of opportunities on our front nine.”

Widmark is 1,354th - joint last - on the world rankings after having shoulder surgery and then breaking his wrist falling off the roof of his home. The injury was so severe and problematic that he was told at one point he might have to have his arm amputated and had only a ten per cent chance of playing golf again.

But the 34 year old not only made his first halfway cut of the season on The European Tour, but caught Hanson by grabbing three birdies in his last four holes for a 67.

“My goal getting in this event was just to play four rounds,” he said. “ I’ve been injured for a year and a half and I’m just getting back this season and I haven’t really played well so far. I was lucky to get this opportunity to play. I just want to get four rounds and get my game back in shape. It has been great so far but I didn’t expect to be in this position at all."

One behind the leaders are Ireland's Peter Lawrie, who in contrast bogeyed two of the last four, Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts, Argentina's Clodomiro Carranza and another Swede, Fredrik Andersson Hed.

Dyson returned a 69 and commented: "It's weird because I kind of expected there to be double figures (under par) by now, but there isn't and that stands me in good stead."

Ireland's Shane Lowry is alongside him after a best-of-the-day 64 and Welshman Bradley Dredge would have been as well but for arriving for his round 20 seconds late and being penalised two shots.

"I thought I was 12.20 (local time) and it was 12.10," Dredge said after having to sign for a 67 rather than 65.

"I wasn't too happy, but it's my fault for not getting it right."

Spaniard Miguel Ángel Jiménez is also three under and English pair Ross McGowan and Oliver Wilson made the cut on level par.

Colsaerts, who shot 70 playing with joint leader Hanson, said: “Peter got off to a good start so there was good motion in the group. It helps when someone else is playing well – you get a positive mood. You narrow the focus a little more.
“Today 70 was a disappointing score with the way I played, but it is good to be at the top of the leaderboard.
“Hopefully no-one will run away with it, the conditions are good so you have a chance to shoot low.
“It’s a funky course. It’s not the sort we play all year but the surfaces are good. You really have to place the ball well.”

SECOND-ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 144 (2x72)
137 Peter Hanson (Swe) 67 70, Fredrik Widmark (Swe) 70 67
138 Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 73 65, Peter Lawrie 70 68, Clodomiro Carranza (Arg) 69 69, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 70 68
139 Richard Bland 68 71, Anthony Wall 70 69, Scott Hend (Aus) 69 70, Shane Lowry 75 64, Tano Goya (Arg) 67 72, Simon Dyson 70 69, Kenneth Ferrie 71 68
140 Shiv Kapur (Ind) 66 74, Phillip Price 70 70, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 70 70, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 68 72

141 Steve Webster 72 69, Nathan Smith (USA) 71 70, Marc Warren 70 71, Stephen Dodd 72 69, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 71 70, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 72 69, Bradley Dredge 74 67, Thomas Levet (Fra) 73 68

142 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 72 70, Anton Haig (Rsa) 70 72, Paul Waring 73 69, Gary Boyd 72 70, Stephen Gallacher 74 68, Rick Kulacz (Aus) 69 73, Richard Finch 69 73, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 72 70, Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 73 69, Pablo Martin (Spa) 74 68, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 74 68, Michael Hoey 70 72
143 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 70 73, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 70 73, Ariel Canete (Arg) 72 71, Miles Tunnicliff 70 73, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 74 69
144 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 72 72, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 71 73, Richie Ramsay 75 69, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 70 74, Oliver Wilson 72 72, Alan McLean 70 74, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 72 72, Jamie Elson 75 69, Stephan Gross Jnr (Ger) 73 71, Jamie Donaldson 72 72, Alastair Forsyth 74 70, Ross McGowan 73 71, Tim Stewart (Aus) 72 72
145 John Parry 73 72, Soren Hansen (Den) 73 72, David Lynn 73 72, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 77 68, Graeme Storm 71 74, Simon Lilly 72 73, Marco Ruiz (Par) 74 71, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 73 72, Mark Foster 74 71
146 Martin Wiegele (Aut) 72 74, Damien McGrane 74 72, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 78 68, Marco Soffietti (Ita) 75 71, Peter Whiteford 79 67, Sion E Bebb 73 73, Scott Drummond 72 74, Steven O'Hara 76 70, Oliver Fisher 78 68, Anthony Kang (USA) 71 75, Gary Clark 76 70, Danny Lee (Nzl) 75 71, Gary Murphy 73 73, Tommy Fleetwood 75 71, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 73 73
MISSED THE CUT
147 Viktor Skalle (Cze) 74 73, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 75 72, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 73 74, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 69 78, James Morrison 73 74, Robert Rock 74 73, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 73 74, Simon Thornton 74 73, Sam Little 77 70
148 Andrea Maestroni (Ita) 74 74, Filip Mruzek (Cze) 76 72, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 75 73, Robert Coles 71 77, Martin Prihoda (Cze) 75 73, Richard McEvoy 75 73, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 76 72, Mark Brown (Nzl) 73 75, David Drysdale 72 76, Tony Carolan (Aus) 73 75, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 73 75
149 Fredrik Ohlsson (Swe) 74 75, Carl Suneson (Spa) 74 75, Mark F Haastrup (Den) 75 74, Luis Claverie (Spa) 76 73, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 76 73, Johan Axgren (Swe) 75 74, Peter Svajlen (Svk) 75 74
150 Gary Lockerbie 78 72, Andrew Butterfield 71 79, Stanisiav Matus (Cze) 76 74, Nick Dougherty 79 71
151 Christian Nilsson (Swe) 76 75, Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 76 75, Steen Ottosen (Den) 77 74, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 74 77, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 75 76, Sam Hutsby 75 76, Lukas Tintera (Cze) 75 76, Markus Brier (Aut) 76 75
152 Jurgen Maurer (Aut) 78 74, Phillip Archer 80 72, Andrew Coltart 78 74, Keith Horne (Rsa) 78 74
153 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 76 77, George Coetzee (Rsa) 76 77, Julien Quesne (Fra) 78 75, Brett Rumford (Aus) 74 79, Robert Schovanek (Cze) 77 76, Ghislain Rosier (Fra) 77 76, David Dixon 75 78, Jonathan Lomas 77 76
155 Andrew Tampion (Aus) 77 78, Ondrej Lieser (Cze) 79 76, Jan Ryba (Cze) 80 75
156 Sebi Garcia (Spa) 74 82
157 Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 76 81
158 Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 82 76, Ondrej Lebl (Cze) 80 78
159 Petr Zima jr (Cze) 77 82
163 Marek Novy (Cze) 80 83, Petr Gal jr. (Cze) 81 82
167 Jiri Stryncl (Cze) 86 81
170 Jakub Svarc (Cze) 87 83
172 Petr Skopovy (Cze) 89 83
179 Martin Rudecky (Cze) 93 86