DAAN HUIZING LEADS BY THREE IN NORTHERN IRELAND CHALLENGE

REPORT FROM EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

Daan Huizing mastered the blustery, swirling winds that whipped around the Galgorm Castle Golf Club on Friday morning to establish a three shot lead at the halfway stage of the Northern Ireland Open Challenge presented by Clannah and XJET. 

The young Dutchman, who reached Number Two on the Amateur World Rankings before turning professional, was in brilliant form as he posted a second round of five under 66 to move to 11 under for the week and into a three stroke lead over Sweden’s Jens Dantorp and Englishman Ross McGowan.

Despite the testing conditions, Huizing dropped just one shot on the first hole before producing a classy display of ball-striking and control to finish with three birdies in his last four holes to move clear of the field. 

“The conditions were quite tough but I actually enjoy playing with a breeze like that because it helps me to focus and allows you to shape the ball and try to use the wind to your advantage in some ways,” said Huizing.

“I am swinging the club well and playing with confidence at the moment so hopefully I can keep that going over the weekend and try to get my first win on the Challenge Tour.”

Dantorp and McGowan both carded second round of two under 69 to share second place on eight under, with four players – Marcus Armitage, Andrew McArthur, Bernd Ritthammer and James Ruth – a further shot back. 

The home challenge over the weekend will be led by young amateur Dermot McElroy and his professional countrymen Jonathan Caldwell and Mick McGeady, who all reached the halfway stage on five under.

McElroy played a lot of amateur golf with Huizing and is not surprised to see the 22 year old Dutchman flying high at the top of the leaderboard.

“The last two events I played with Daan he won them so I am not surprised to see his name up there," said McElroy. 

He won the Lytham Trophy and the St Andrews Links Trophy by miles and is just a quality player,” said McElroy after his second round 70.

“I played okay today – I hit the ball off the tee a lot better but I haven’t played as well as I usually can around here. Maybe I am just a little burnt out as I have played a lot of golf this summer, but hopefully I can make a move over the weekend.”

Caldwell and McGeady carded respective second round scores of 69 and 72 and will be looking to move into contention with a strong third round.

One man who won’t be making a move over the weekend is Michael Hoey. The five-time European Tour winner has been a fine tournament ambassador this week but after calling a two shot penalty on himself midway through his second round, the 34 year old could not get back inside the cut line as he ended the day with a five over 76 for four over par total.

Playing the 11^th hole at Galgorm, Hoey found his ball in thick rough. “The ball moved a little bit in this thick clump of rough,” he explained.

“I hadn’t grounded my club so I didn’t think it was a penalty but then I spoke to my partners and they were saying even if you didn’t ground the club it might still be a penalty. I wasn’t too comfortable with that so I spoke to one of the referees a few holes later and he basically said it was my call and I was 70 per cent sure that I had to call the penalty on myself.

"It’s a disappointing way to end really but I gave it everything I could today and just couldn’t do enough to make the cut.”

SECOND-ROUND TOTALS

Par 142 (2x71)

131 D Huizing (Ned) 65 66

134 J Dantorp (Swe) 65 69; R McGowan  (Eng) 65 69

135 M Armitage (Eng) 70 65; B Ritthammer (Ger) 64 71; A McArthur  (Sco) 65 70; J Ruth  (Eng) 64 71

136 M Crespi  (Ita) 67 69; D Im (USA) 67 69; G Houston (Wal) 67 69; B Hebert  (Fra) 67 69; O Wilson (Eng) 66 70; D Stewart (Sco) 70 66

137 T Pilkadaris (Aus) 66 71; J Carlsson (Swe) 68 69; M McGeady (Irl) 65 72; N O'Briain (Irl) 67 70; J Caldwell  (Nir) 68 69; D McElroy (am) (Nir) 67 70

138 J Mikkelsen (Nor) 69 69; J Heath  (Eng) 67 71; J Guerrier  (Fra) 68 70; D Perrier (Fra) 68 70; H Porteous (RSA) 68 70; C Russo (Fra) 67 71

139 T Hatton (Eng) 67 72; B An (Kor) 68 71; P Widegren  (Swe) 67 72; D Vancsik (Arg) 69 70; N Lemke (Swe) 70 69; H Joannes  (Bel) 71 68; M Glauert (Ger) 70 69; N Dougherty  (Eng) 66 73; G Murray  (Sco) 67 72; A Johnston (Eng) 66 73; B Parker  (Eng) 68 71

140 N Kearney (Irl) 69 71; R Kakko  (Fin) 70 70; G Shaw (Nir) 68 72; R McGee (Irl) 70 70; V Riu  (Fra) 70 70; J Lima  (Por) 70 70; L Goddard  (Eng) 69 71; M Ford (Eng) 71 69; S Kim (SKor) 69 71; F Calmels  (Fra) 69 71; R Whitson (am) (Nir) 71 69

141 A Bernadet  (Fra) 71 70; J Barnes (Eng) 68 73; D Griffiths  (Eng) 68 73; G Stal  (Fra) 68 73; J Senior (Eng) 68 73; J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 70 71; R Steiner (Aut) 71 70; P Archer (Eng) 69 72; P Dwyer (Eng) 70 71; E Dubois (Fra) 72 69; T Nørret (Den) 66 75; S Walker (Eng) 71 70; M Murphy (Irl) 72 69; S Tiley (Eng) 70 71; J McLeary  (Sco) 66 75; N Ravano (Ita) 71 70 

MISSED THE CUT

142 D Dixon (Eng) 70 72; H Bateman (Nzl) 71 71; A Dunbar (Nir) 68 74; L Bjerregaard  (Den) 69 73; K Borsheim  (Nor) 73 69; C Moriarty (Irl) 69 73; T Remkes (Ned) 72 70; J Jeong (Kor) 69 73; T Sluiter  (Ned) 72 70; P O'Keeffe  (Irl) 74 68; N Elvira  (Esp) 74 68; L Richard (Bel) 72 70

143 B Paolini (USA) 71 72; K Ferrie (Eng) 70 73; O Farr (Wal) 71 72; P Maddy (Eng) 72 71; C Hanson (Eng) 74 69; W Besseling  (Ned) 68 75; J Glennemo (Swe) 70 73; R Kellett (Sco) 66 77; J Abbott (Eng) 76 67; T Murray (Eng) 73 70; P Figueiredo  (Por) 72 71

144 D Geminiani (Ita) 74 70; J Moul  (Eng) 74 70; J Lando Casanova  (Fra) 74 70; T Haylock  (Eng) 74 70; R Dinwiddie  (Eng) 72 72; P Edberg (Swe) 73 71; A Gee  (Eng) 75 69; J Doherty  (Sco) 68 76

145 L Corfield  (Eng) 74 71; N Quintarelli (Ita) 75 70; R Russell (Sco) 68 77; T Fournier  (Fra) 72 7

146 P Cutler (Nir) 74 72; C Brazillier  (Fra) 67 79; Å Nilsson (Swe) 69 77; R Kilpatrick (Nir) 74 72; A Domingo (Esp) 72 74; M Hoey  (Nir) 70 76; L Saltman (Sco) 73 73; F McGuirk  (Eng) 68 78; D Palm (Swe) 72 74

147 B McCarroll  (Irl) 75 72; M Haines  (Eng) 74 73; S Choi (Kor) 80 67; C Aguilar  (Esp) 72 75; H Santos  (Por) 77 70; J Elson  (Eng) 74 73; O Whiteley (Eng) 73 74; D Mooney (Nir) 71 76; S Franklin (Irl) 76 71; A Velasco (Esp) 72 75; J Gibb (Eng) 73 74;

148 S Piaget  (Mon) 77 71; D Wuensche  (Ger) 73 75; C Devlin (Nir) 71 77; J Frazer (Wal) 75 73; J Fahrbring (Swe) 74 74; J Maurer  (Aut) 72 76; D Kemmer (USA) 74 74

149 W Booth  (Sco) 72 77; D Coupland (Eng) 74 75; M Sell  (Eng) 74 75; E Saltman  (Sco) 75 74; S Forgan (Eng) 73 76; S Hutsby  (Eng) 72 77; S Campbell (Eng) 73 76

150 J Howarth (Eng) 74 76; F Bergamaschi (Ita) 74 76; D Rawluk (Irl) 74 76; R Weldon (Irl) 72 78

151 S Manley (Wal) 73 78; J Mommo  (Fin) 73 78; B Chapellan (Fra) 77 74

152 C Molloy (Irl) 73 79; P Oriol (Esp) 76 76; C Ford (Eng) 72 80; J Timmis (Eng) 77 75; F Praegant Aut) 73 79; T Pulkkanen  (Fin) 72 80; A Rota (Ita) 76 76; F De Vries  (Ned) 71 81;

153 S Ward  (Nir) 79 74; N Turner (Irl) 75 78; L Reilly (Nir) 74 79;

157 D Leathem (Nir) 81 76

158 A Perrino  (Ita) 78 80

160 S O'Hara  (Sco) 78 82

161 C Carroll (am) (Nir) 77 84

172 S Wilson (Nir) 86 86

** R Saxton (Ned) 76 retired