Aberdonians' mixed fortunes in Irish Open

Ramsay shares lead but Lawrie misses cut
 
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Padraig Harrington and Luke Donald will lead the chasing pack looking to hunt down the six halfway leaders at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open hosted by the Rory Foundation.
Three-time Major winner Harrington, the winner of his national Open in 2007, and former World Number One Donald, are among the biggest names looking to overhaul Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Tyrell Hatton, Søren Kjeldsen, Richie Ramsay, Chris Wood and Bernd Weisberger at the top of the leaderboard.
They share the lead on three under par 139.
Harrington and Donald are one stroke behind – with Players’ Champion Rickie Fowler a further two shots back –  after another hugely testing day at Royal County Down Golf Club, Newcastke in Northern Ireland, where gusting winds and driving rain showers tested many of the world’s best to their limits.
Indeed, the world’s best player and tournament host Rory McIlroy fell victim to Royal County Down as he failed to recover from his first round 80 and missed the halfway cut with a level par 71 on day two.

Player Quotes:

BERND WIESBERGER (139, -3)
“I'm hitting it much better than last week. I put in some work on the weekend after what was a disappointing week at Wentworth.  I drove the ball really nicely so far this week.  It's important here, the fairways are not wide, to get chances, you need to come out of the fairway.  I did that pretty well today.”
RICHIE RAMSAY (139, -3)
“I hit some really good shots today but the most important thing is when I hit a poor shot, I rebounded well, I got up‑and‑down.  A little bit disappointed I didn't get up‑and‑down on the last but 67 is a great score out there, and it’s a great atmosphere. When the putts go in, there's nice cheers and stuff and I think everybody is having a great time out there.”
SØREN KJELDSEN (139, -3)
“I think if you categorised my game, I think I hit it pretty straight off the tee and my short game is generally pretty strong.  So I think that sets up nicely for tough golf courses. I kept it in play nicely and when I get that putter going, I can keep the score under control.”
TYRRELL HATTON (139, -3)
“I hit it close today and actually holed a couple of putts which was good.  Been struggling with my putting recently.  I feel I've been hitting good putts, but they’ve just not been dropping.  Obviously holed a few today which was nice.  A little bit of a surprise to see them drop but always happy to see it.”
CHRIS WOOD (139, -3)
“Conditions were tough out there today, we had a bit of everything again.  Probably a little bit worse than we had yesterday morning, and certainly I would say we've had the slightly harder side of the draw.  But, it is satisfying to break par.”
RAFA CABRERA-BELLO (139, -3)
“I had a little bit of luck out there but I played pretty well and I am just really pleased with the way I managed myself out there today. I am very proud of my score – it doesn’t matter that I was bogey free today. I enjoyed it today and hopefully I can keep it going over the weekend.”
PADRAIG HARRINGTON (140, -2)
“I'm now in a position that I'm going to have to play well on the weekend and not get anything going against me.  There will be a lot of people just making the cut this weekend that will feel like they have a chance of winning now that I've come back to the pack in some way. It's going to be a much tougher weekend.  I won't have the luxury of having any bad runs, let's say.  I'll have to stick in there and play well and hope things actually go in my favour.”
LUKE DONALD (140, -2)
“Ten birdies around here (over two rounds) is great.  Obviously I'd love to minimise the mistakes a little bit but this is a very tough course.  But the ten birdies is very encouraging.  Through some good ball striking and better putting, which for me is always a big key to my game.”
RORY McILROY (151, +9)
“Positives? About my golf game?  Probably none.  About everything else that we've done?  There's obviously loads of positives.  The Irish Open is now back to what it should be – just look around you. And all the work that we've done with the Foundation and all the people that we're helping because of that means there's loads of positives in that sense. But my golf game, not so much.”

SECOND-ROUND SCORES
139 C Wood  (Eng) 70 69, T Hatton (Eng) 73 66, B Wiesberger  (Aut) 72 67, R Ramsay  (Sco) 72 67, S Kjeldsen (Den) 69 70, R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 71 68
140 P Harrington (Irl) 67 73, L Donald  (Eng) 70 70
141 M Ford (Eng) 70 71
142 R Fowler  (USA) 71 71, B Dredge (Wal) 72 70, J Parry (Eng) 72 70,
143 A Wall (Eng) 72 71, M Fitzpatrick  (Eng) 71 72, R McEvoy  (Eng) 71 72, A Hansen (Den) 70 73, M Kieffer (Ger) 67 76, R Gonzalez (Arg) 76 67,
144 E Els (RSA) 71 73, R Green (Aus) 72 72, E Grillo (Arg) 69 75, S Hansen (Den) 68 76, N Fasth (Swe) 71 73, M Carlsson  (Swe) 72 72, A Sullivan (Eng) 74 70, F Molinari (Ita) 71 73, T Fisher Jnr (RSA) 70 74, J Roos (RSA) 75 69, M Jiménez (Esp) 72 72
145 P McGinley (Irl) 72 73, L Slattery (Eng) 72 73, R Fisher (Eng) 74 71, F Aguilar (Chi) 74 71, D Willett  (Eng) 69 76, T Aiken (RSA) 73 72, T Lewis (Eng) 74 71, S Jamieson  (Sco) 73 72, S Benson (Eng) 74 71
146 R Wattel  (Fra) 74 72, M Fraser (Aus) 73 73, B An (Kor) 75 71, P Uihlein  (USA) 72 74, S Lowry  (Irl) 72 74, S Webster (Eng) 72 74, L Westwood (Eng) 74 72, T Jaidee (Tha) 72 74, E Pepperell (Eng) 74 72, T Fleetwood  (Eng) 71 75, L Bjerregaard  (Den) 73 73, A Dodt (Aus) 73 73, F Zanotti (Par) 72 74, M Tullo (Chi) 74 72, R Karlberg  (Swe) 70 76, J Kruger (RSA) 73 73
147 G Bourdy (Fra) 73 74, B Hebert  (Fra) 75 72, J Barnes (Eng) 75 72, D Clarke (Nir) 75 72, R Bland Eng) 75 72, M Nixon (Eng) 77 70, J Van Zyl (RSA) 73 74, S Hend (Aus) 73 74, M Foster (Eng) 77 70, G McDowell  (Nir) 72 75, M Lampert (Ger) 76 71, S Thornton (Irl) 71 76, A Noren  (Swe) 73 74, D Fichardt (RSA) 76 71
MISSED THE CUT
148 O Fisher  (Eng) 73 75, R Rock (Eng) 75 73, P Edberg (Swe) 75 73, G Coetzee (RSA) 74 74, K Phelan (Irl) 74 74, M Kaymer (Ger) 79 69, S Gallacher (Sco) 75 73, A Levy (Fra) 70 78, R Dinwiddie  (Eng) 74 74, D Howell (Eng) 77 71, N Colsaerts  (Bel) 73 75, W Ormsby (Aus) 75 73, J Hume (am) (Irl) 75 73
149 M Hoey  (Nir) 71 78, E Espana (Fra) 73 76, M Crespi  (Ita) 75 74, A Cañizares  (Esp) 77 72, A Lahiri (Ind) 73 76, D Drysdale (Sco) 73 76, C McNamara (Irl) 75 74, B Neil (am) (Sco) 73 76
150 D Mooney (Nir) 79 71, P Lawrie (Irl) 76 74, D Lipsky (USA) 76 74, J Lando Casanova  (Fra) 75 75, G Stal  (Fra) 72 78, S Khan (Eng) 74 76, D Horsey (Eng) 72 78, R Karlsson (Swe) 72 78, J Quesne  (Fra) 74 76, G Moynihan (am) (Irl) 74 76, G Hurley (am) (Irl) 73 77
151 J Campillo (Esp) 73 78, S Dodd (Wal) 75 76, A Johnston (Eng) 76 75, M Lundberg (Swe) 75 76, R McIlroy  (Nir) 80 71, B Stow (Eng) 76 75, D Brooks (Eng) 79 72, G Maybin (Nir) 76 75, P Hanson (Swe) 74 77, M Lorenzo-Vera  (Fra) 76 75, M Warren (Sco) 75 76, P Maddy (Eng) 79 72, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 71 80, J Carlsson (Swe) 76 75, J Kelly (Irl) 74 77, T Olesen (Den) 80 71,
152 J Lara (Esp) 77 75, F Fritsch  (Ger) 72 80, R Finch  (Eng) 74 78, J Palmer (Eng) 75 77, E De La Riva  (Esp) 76 76, N O'Briain (Irl) 76 76, R Paratore (Ita) 73 79, M Manassero (Ita) 71 81, O Wilson (Eng) 80 72, M Ilonen  (Fin) 75 77, J Morrison  (Eng) 76 76, K Broberg (Swe) 78 74153 P Lawrie (Sco) 75 78, C Lloyd (Eng) 74 79, D McGrane (Irl) 79 74, B McGovern (Irl) 78 75, A Otaegui  (Esp) 78 75, R Whitson (Nir) 80 73,
154 S Garcia  (Esp) 75 79, M Siem  (Ger) 77 77, T Murray (Eng) 74 80, J Singh (Ind) 76 78, M Madsen  (Den) 74 80,
155 O Farr (Wal) 75 80,
156 S Kapur (Ind) 78 78, G Storm  (Eng) 79 77, P Larrazábal (Esp) 78 78,
157 S Hutsby  (Eng) 76 81, T Pieters  (Bel) 78 79,
158 V Dubuisson  (Fra) 74 84,
159 C Lee (Sco) 79 80,
160 H Otto (RSA) 74 86, M McDermott (Irl) 82 78,
163 J Moore  (USA) 77 86,
Retired - C Doak (Sco) 77 RT, R Jacquelin (Fra) 77 RT
Withdrew - S Dyson  (Eng) 80 WD, B Rumford (Aus) 77 WD

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