O'Hara shares lead with
Horsey in Kazakhastan

FROM PAUL SYMES, CHALLENGE TOUR PRESS OFFICER
Despite a three putt for bogey on the final hole, Motherwell's Steven O’Hara is tied at the top after a second-round 68 for a tally of 10 under par 134 with England’s David Horsey at the midway stage of the Kazakhstan Open.
A burst of birdies on the front nine – his back nine – moved the tall Scot into a promising position to land his maiden Challenge Tour title, and with it secure a return to the European Tour.
With a prize fund of €430,000 up for grabs, O’Hara – currently ranked 14th – knows the next two days at Nurtau Golf Club in Almaty, Kazakhstan, could make or break his season.
He said: “I feel gutted about that bogey on the last, but I’m sure it won’t last long, because I played pretty well again today. I’ve only made three bogeys over the two rounds, and it’s felt fairly easy.
"I found the fairways with most of my drives today and then managed to hit it pretty close with most of my approach shots, but just didn’t hole many putts. But I’m in a great position, and hopefully if I can hole a few more putts over the next two days, I’ll be in with a great chance.
"It’s a big weekend for me, so I’m really looking forward to it. I did well in St Omer, so I seem to get a bit of extra motivation and play my best golf in the bigger tournaments. All I can do is try my best at the weekend, and see where it takes me.”
O’Hara will face a formidable foe in Horsey, twice a winner on this season’s Challenge Tour and currently second in the Rankings. Seven birdies in a 65 for a ten under par aggregate total of 134 considerably enhanced Horsey’s prospects of taking his haul of titles to three.
He said: “I want to win as many tournaments as I can – that’s why I play the game. I’d love to get the Number One spot at the end of the season and play in the HSBC Champions. It’s a big tournament, and if you play well there you can get your season off to a great start. Even a top 20 finish gets you about €40,000, which puts you on the front foot straight away.
"After that I’d probably play in Hong Kong, then go across to Australia and South Africa. But if I were to win one of them, maybe I’d give myself a month off over Christmas!”
Italian Alessandro Tadini is currently in third place on nine under par after a round of 66. Belgium’s Nicolas Vanhootegem is one shot further back on eight under par after a round of 69 which included five birdies.
Scotland’s David Drysdale had also threatened to challenge the leaders, only for a bogey-double bogey finish to stall his momentum. Drysdale’s 71 saw him finish on five under par 139, level with fellow Scot Richie Ramsay, who started his round of 71 with an eagle but suffered a double bogey on his penultimate hole.
Andrew McArthur made it through on 140 after a 68 but there was disappointment for Lloyd Saltman (147) and Eric Ramsay (148) on a day when level par 144 was a shot too many to beat the halfway cut.
Even more disappointed had been Peterculter tour pro Greig Hutcheon who was disqualified for a reason which was not immediately available. He had had a first-round 71.

SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
Par 144 (2 x 72)
134 David Horsey (Eng) 69 65, Steven O'Hara (Sco) 66 68
135 Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 69 66
136 Nicolas Vanhootegem (Bel) 67 69
137 Gregory Molteni (Ita) 67 70, Jonas Blixt (Swe) 69 68, Chris Gane (Eng) 72 65, Alexandre Rocha (Bra) 67 70, Gary Lockerbie (Eng) 68 69
138 Adam Gee (Eng) 67 71, Richard Mcevoy (Eng) 68 70, Anders Schmidt Hansen (Den) 68 70
139 Colm Moriarty (Irl) 67 72, David Drysdale (Sco) 68 71, Richard Treis (Ger) 71 68, Marco Ruiz (Par) 70 69, Liam Bond (Wal) 68 71, Jan-Are Larsen (Nor) 69 70, Stuart Davis (Eng) 68 71, Richie Ramsay (Sco) 68 71
140 Sebastien Delagrange (Fra) 69 71, Ian Garbutt (Eng) 71 69, Alessio Bruschi (Ita) 68 72, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 69 71, Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spa) 72 68, Wil Besseling (Ned) 69 71, Marco Soffietti (Ita) 69 71, Seve Benson (Eng) 67 73, Edward Rush (Eng) 72 68, Matthew Morris (Eng) 68 72, Andrew McArthur (Sco) 72 68
141 John E Morgan (Eng) 72 69, Toni Karjalainen (Fin) 70 71, Julien Quesne (Fra) 72 69, Simon Robinson (Eng) 72 69, Christophe Brazillier (Fra) 71 70, Roland Steiner (Aut) 70 71, Andrew Marshall (Eng) 71 70
142 Ricardo Santos (Por) 71 71, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 71 71, Robert Coles (Eng) 70 72, Branden Grace (Rsa) 73 69, Mark F Haastrup (Den) 70 72, Tyrone Ferreira (Rsa) 71 71, Peter Kaensche (Nor) 69 73, Iain Pyman (Eng) 71 71, Inder Van Weerelt (Ned) 71 71, Matthew Cort (Eng) 72 70, Thomas Feyrsinger (Aut) 69 73, Steve Alker (Nzl) 71 71, Jamie Little (Eng) 69 73, Lee S James (Eng) 69 73, Lawrence Dodd (Eng) 73 69
143 Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 71 72, Kasper Linnet Jorgensen (Den) 70 73, James Heath (Eng) 72 71, Mark Tullo (Chi) 73 70, Michael Hoey (NIrl) 73 70, Antti Ahokas (Fin) 71 72, Bjorn Pettersson (Swe) 71 72, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 75 68, Estanislao Goya (Arg) 68 75, David Carter (Eng) 71 72, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 73 70, Franois Calmels (Fra) 68 75, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 72 71, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 71 72
MISSED THE CUT
144 Stephen Browne (Irl) 72 72, Miguel Rodriguez (Arg) 72 72, Gustavo Acosta (Arg) 70 74, Benjamin Miarka (Ger) 74 70, Lars Brovold (Nor) 70 74, Andre Bossert (Swi) 70 , Roope Kakko (Fin) 73 71, Alvaro Salto (Spa) 74 70, Raphael De Sousa (Swi) 72 72
145 Olivier David (Fra) 73 72, Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 71 74, Julien Clement (Swi) 70 75, Gareth Shaw (NIrl) 69 76, Andrew Willey (Eng) 73 72
146 Andrew Butterfield (Eng) 74 72, Adrien Bernadet (Fra) 72 74, Richard Bland (Eng) 75 71, John Wade (Aus) 72 74, Michele Reale (Ita) 71 75, Gary Clark (Eng) 72 74, Andreas Hogberg (Swe) 72 74
147 Klas Eriksson (Swe) 72 75, Tiago Cruz (Por) 68 79, Ben Evans (Eng) 72 75, Lloyd Saltman (Sco) 72 75, Ben Mason (Eng) 74 73, Rodolfo Gonzalez (Arg) 72 75
148 Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 73 75, Eric Ramsay (Sco) 77 71, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 73 75, Tim Milford (Eng) 73 75, Kyron Sullivan (Wal) 76 72, Jaakko Makitalo (Fin) 72 76
149 Oscar Floren (Swe) 78 71, Matthew Zions (Aus) 74 75, Gustavo Rojas (Arg) 76 73, Marcus Higley (Eng) 73 76, Gary Wolstenholme (Eng) 74 75, Charles-Edouard Russo (Fra) 71 78, Soren Juul (Den) 75 74, Juan Parron (Spa) 72 77
150 Gareth Maybin (NIrl) 75 75, Anthony Snobeck (Fra) 74 76, Gary Boyd (Eng) 75 75, Mark Pilkington (Wal) 77 73
152 Shim-Jay Dong (Kor) 77 75, Matthew King (Eng) 72 80
153 Martin Monguzzi (Arg) 76 77, Jean-Nicolas Billot (Fra) 78 75
156 Johan Skold (Swe) 81 75
158 Sebastian L Saavedra (Arg) 77 81
161 Artem Nesterov (Rus) 84 77
162 Alex Afanasev (Kaz) 78 84
172 Andrey Lagay (Kaz) 86 86
173 Alexander Vongay (Kaz) 89 84
179 Erkebulan Bashikov (Kaz) 89 90
Disqualified: Greig Hutcheon (Sco) 71
Retired: Andrew Tampion (Aus) 74