CHALLENGE TOUR REPORT AND SCORES FROM NORWAY

By Neil Ahern
nahern@europeantour.com

Glasgow's former Scottish amateur champion Andrew McArthur launched himself right into contention at the Norwegian Challenge after he carded a second successive five under par round of 67 to move to within four shots of the lead held by former Ryder Cup player Oliver Wilson.

The  Windyhill player has been on confident form of late, with his best finish of the season coming in Italy six weeks ago while he earned a top 20 in Finland last week, and he continued on that form in Byneset GK, near Trondheim.

McArthur opened with two birdies at the first and second holes before reaching the turn in two under after a birdie at the par five seventh and a bogey at the par four eighth. That proved to be his only dropped shot of the first two rounds, however, and he picked up shots at the 11^th, 14^th and 17^th to move into the race for a second Challenge Tour title.

“It’s been good consistency so far,” said the 33 year old, who has won once before on the Challenge Tour. “I’ve missed two greens in 36 holes so you have to be happy with that.

“I just had to be patient and wait for my chances and I did that so I just need to keep that up. Confidence is high but that can evaporate quickly on this tour. Since my first round in Italy I have been playing well and I managed to keep that going.

“It’s a lot more fun to be playing well and seeing myself up there on the leaderboard because I haven’t been shooting too many good scores this year. I've really been working hard and doing everything right but for some reason it just wasn’t happening for me. All of a sudden now a few putts are dropping and it feels nice.”

Steve O’Hara joined McArthur on ten under late in the day after he eagled two par fives on the way to another five under par 67 to stay in touch with the top of the leaderboard.

Chris Doak was also in the hunt one shot further back after a six under par 66 moved him to nine under par while Gavin Dear (-5) also made the cut.

Meanwhile, former Ryder Cup player Oliver Wilson carded the lowest round of his professional career as the Englishman’s stunning ten under par 62 moved him into the tied lead, alongside Alvaro Velasco, going into the weekend’s play.

Velasco, who was the overnight leader after the first day, matched his opening round of 65 to move into a two-way tie for the lead on 14 under par but it was his English compatriot who stole the show earlier in the day after a two hour rain delay at Byneset GK, near Trondheim.

SECOND-ROUND SCOREBOARD

Par 144 (2x72)

130 A Velasco (Esp) 65 65, O Wilson (Eng) 68 62,

131 K Broberg (Swe) 67 64,

133 A Bernadet (Fra) 69 64,

134 R Echenique (Arg) 69 65, S O'Hara (Sco) 67 67, A McArthur (Sco) 67 67, G Stal (Fra) 68 66,

135 J Dantorp (Swe) 70 65, J Senior (Eng) 67 68, C Doak (Sco) 69 66, B An (Kor) 68 67, S Brown (Eng) 69 66, M Tullo (Chi) 67 68, D Geminiani (Ita) 69 66,

136 E Bertheussen (Nor) 68 68, F Praegant (Aut) 69 67, A Kaleka (Fra) 68 68, S Kim (Kor) 70 66, J Busby (Eng) 68 68, A Otaegui (Esp) 67 69, V Riu (Fra) 67 69, J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 68 68, C Lloyd (Eng) 68 68, G Lockerbie (Eng) 69 67, M Delpodio (Ita) 67 69,

137 M Kieffer (Ger) 67 70, M Nixon (Eng) 70 67, H Bacher (Aut) 70 67, J Mommo (Fin) 70 67, M Eliasson (Swe) 71 66, A Engell (am) (Nor) 69 68, N Kearney (Irl) 70 67, B Chapellan (Fra) 69 68, D Küpper (Ger) 70 67,

138 A Högberg (Swe) 68 70, A Tadini (Ita) 67 71, C Aronsen (Nor) 73 65, L Richard (Bel) 70 68, S Walker (Eng) 70 68, B Koepka (USA) 68 70, T Ferreira (RSA) 71 67, J Walters (RSA) 70 68, J Rask (Swe) 69 69, P Gustafsson (Swe) 69 69, D Ulrich (Sui) 70 68, M Glauert (Ger) 69 69, K Borsheim (Nor) 70 68, M Haines (Eng) 66 72,

139 M Southgate (Eng) 74 65, A Kristiansen (Nor) 73 66, E Kofstad (Nor) 71 68, A Perrino (Ita) 70 69, S Wakefield (Eng) 71 68, S Jeppesen (Swe) 70 69, G Clark (Eng) 70 69, N Dougherty (Eng) 72 67, F McGuirk (Eng) 72 67, R McGowan (Eng) 70 69, G Dear (Sco) 69 70, K Eriksson (Swe) 71 68, A Domingo (Esp) 72 67, M Crespi (Ita) 73 66,

MISSED THE CUT

140 P Oriol (Esp) 70 70, J Palmer (Eng) 71 69, J Heath (Eng) 71 69, R Karlberg (Swe) 77 63, A Hortal (Esp) 72 68, H Joannes (Bel) 71 69, C Monasterio (Arg) 70 70, L Saltman (Sco) 69 71, M Cryer (Eng) 71 69, A Gjesteby (am) (Nor) 70 70, C Macaulay (Sco) 72 68, A Rota (Ita) 73 67, J Grillon (Fra) 70 70,

141 P Erofejeff (Fin) 69 72, F De Vries (Ned) 69 72, R Dinwiddie (Eng) 70 71, A Hansen (Den) 72 69, L Goddard (Eng) 67 74, S Henry (Sco) 73 68, B Barham (Eng) 69 72, B Ahlenback (Swe) 67 74, A Sullivan (Eng) 71 70, U Weinhandl (Aut) 73 68, J Hansen (Den) 76 65, B Etchart (Esp) 71 70, J Mikkelsen (Nor) 72 69, C Russo (Fra) 70 71, J Lima (Por) 73 68,

142 S Garcia (Esp) 69 73, B Ritthammer (Ger) 71 71, J Guerrier (Fra) 72 70, J Clément (Sui) 68 74, F Fritsch (Ger) 72 70, D Vancsik (Arg) 72 70, C Baunsoe (Den) 75 67, J Gibb (Eng) 71 71, D Lokke (Den) 71 71, L Jensen (Den) 72 70,

143 R Hjelm (Den) 75 68, F Delamontagne (Fra) 72 71, H Satama (Fin) 71 72, M Haastrup (Den) 72 71, J Van Der Vaart (Ned) 68 75, F Calmels (Fra) 76 67, E Pepperell (Eng) 74 69, J Wahlqvist (Swe) 72 71, C Suneson (Esp) 72 71,

144 F Keenan (Eng) 73 71, L Kennedy (Eng) 70 74, A Bruschi (Ita) 74 70, A Snobeck (Fra) 70 74, N Lemke (Swe) 69 75, K Johannessen (am) (Nor) 75 69,

145 K Svanum (am) (Nor) 73 72, C Ford (Eng) 69 76, J Doherty (Sco) 72 73, E Dubois (Fra) 71 74, S Piaget (Mon) 76 69, J Barnes (Eng) 75 70, J Abbott (Eng) 73 72, C Gane (Eng) 71 74,

146 G Houston (Wal) 75 71, M Quiros (Esp) 69 77, L Michelsen (Nor) 79 67, B Christov (Nor) 74 72, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 75 71, A Ahokas (Fin) 71 75, C Brazillier (Fra) 75 71, A Tampion (Aus) 72 74, A Knappe (Ger) 73 73,

147 P Relecom (Bel) 73 74, N Ravano (Ita) 76 71, J Huldahl (Den) 73 74, B Pastore (Ita) 73 74, I Elvira (Esp) 71 76,

148 A Friestad (Nor) 75 73, T Feyrsinger (Aut) 74 74, C Mivis (Bel) 71 77, P Archer (Eng) 78 70, Å Nilsson (Swe) 72 76,

149 S Lund (Nor) 73 76, A Parr (Can) 78 71, P Mikalsen (am) (Nor) 74 75, O Gudjonsson (Nor) 77 72,

150 M Ford (Eng) 75 75, P Kaensche (Nor) 74 76,

151 N Meitinger (Ger) 77 74,

154 N Bertasio (Ita) 77 77, L Canter (Eng) 79 75,

155 O Henningsson (Swe) 82 73,

157 V Maroy (am) (Nor) 80 77,

167 J Svoboda (Cze) 88 79,

** G Cambis (Fra) RT 0,

ENDS