Russell Knox moves up into top 

10 at Irish Open

EUROPEAN TOUR REPORT

Erik Van Rooyen of South Africa carded the best round of the week to take a share of the halfway lead at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open hosted by the Rory Foundation – the fourth Rolex Series of the season - alongside first round leader Ryan Fox of New Zealand and Frenchman Matthieu Pavon.

Ballyliffin Golf Club, which has received rapturous praise as it hosts the historic national Open for the first time this week, proved a fair but challenging test once again for the stars of the European Tour.

Van Rooyen came closest to mastering the stunning Donegal links on day two, carding eight birdies for a seven under 65 which concluded with a superb birdie at the final hole, where he nearly found the hole with his approach and tapped in for an easy three.

The 28 year old enters the weekend on an eight under par total along with Pavon and Fox, all three chasing their maiden European Tour titles. Joakim Lagergren, who two months ago lifted the Rocco Forte Sicilian Open title and has won on Northern Irish soil on the Challenge Tour, was a shot back on seven under.

The 2016 Masters Champion Danny Willett was among those two shots back on six under, while 23-time European Tour winner Lee Westwood was on his own on five under. Shane Lowry, meanwhile, enters the weekend six shots off the pace, Rory McIlroy carded a one over 73 for a one under total and Graeme McDowell and Paul Dunne will also both be around for the weekend, on level par and one over respectively.

Player quotes:

Erik Van Rooyen

“The 18^th was just the cherry on the cake today. I hit it beautifully, tee to green all day, and obviously I holed a few nice putts including one long one on my back nine. I’m playing very nicely.

“You can be aggressive and go with drivers. For me it’s been a bit of a mix between the two. There are some holes where I really just want to be in the fairway and just lay up short of the bunkers to give myself a shot from the fairway even if it’s far back.

“It was a fantastic first nine, straight out of the blocks, birdie on one and holes a nice bunker shot on six which was great after a poor shot after the tee. I kept it going, calm on the back nine and then nice to finish with two birdies. I’m a happy man.

“It’s exciting to lead at a Rolex Series event and leading here too. I haven’t played too much links golf, only the Dunhill Links and now this so I’m fairly new to it but I love it. It’s going to be a great weekend.”

Ryan Fox

“It's probably my first time in one of these events being right up there. Probably leading or going to be in the last group, which is going to be a nice experience tomorrow. It's all wind dependent around this course. That brings a lot of those bunkers into play and you have to lay back on them.

“That's the great thing about links golf, you can play a different golf course every day, hit different clubs all four days, and you know, I'll just see what happens tomorrow. Looks like we're going to get another good day, so I'm looking forward to it.”
Matthieu Pavon
“I started not that great. I hit some really bad shots, like on 18, I was lucky to be on the 17th fairway but it's pretty far left. But the putter was pretty warm and it keep me in touch with the scorecard and then I started playing well on the back nine, like the six or seven last holes were very good.
“It’s really exciting to be in this position because I love the crowd, the atmosphere of those Irish people and Scottish people. Like last year, the guys are so great out there, and keep pushing on every holes and I will enjoy that for two more days.”
Danny Willett
“We're going to be in nice position. I think the wind is kind of flattening down a little bit. It's been a beautiful couple of days. You can see someone getting to a few ahead but we are still right there and a long, long way to go.

“We need to keep hitting the shots we're trying to hit, progressing and playing nice, and enjoy what links golf gives you. It's going to give you a few bad bounces, bad breaks, bad lies, but at the same time you might get a few cheeky knocks off the side of some of these banks and kind of do good from it. You have to take everything on the chin and stay patient.”

Rory McIlroy
“I’m a little bit frustrated. Just two poor tee shots on the last two holes and just put myself out of position. It was hard to make par from there. Felt like I hit the ball okay again today. It's definitely going in the right direction. Didn't hole anything, really, again. Held a nice one for birdie on six but that was really it. I finished out okay. Going to have to hit it closer and hole a few over the weekend if I want to have a chance.”

HALFWAY TOTALS 

par 144 (2x72)

136 R Fox (NZ) 67 69, E Van Rooyen (SAf) 71 65, M Pavon (Fra) 68 68
137 J Lagergren (Swe) 69 68
138 S Horsfield (Eng) 69 69, Z Lombard (SAf) 70 68, D Willett (Eng) 68 70,
139 L Westwood (Eng) 68 71
140 P Uihlein (USA) 70 70, C Bezuidenhout (SAf) 72 68, R Knox (Sco) 71 69
141 Y Miyazato (Jpn) 69 72, C Wood (Eng) 70 71, D Burmester (SAf) 71 70, M Nixon (Eng) 72 69, R Jacquelin (Fra) 71 70, T Olesen (Den) 72 69, J Campillo (Spn) 70 71, A Chesters (Eng) 68 73,
142 R Paratore (Ita) 75 67, O Fisher (Eng) 74 68, A Björk (Swe) 69 73, S Lowry (Ire) 72 70, S Thornton (Irl) 72 70, G Coetzee (SAf) 71 71, N Colsaerts (Belgium) 72 70, P Waring (Eng) 71 71, G Fernandez - Castaño (Spn) 71 71, M Ilonen (Finland) 70 72
143 S Jamieson (Sco) 69 74, T Jaidee (Tha) 73 70, J Dantorp (Swe) 72 71, D Horsey (Eng) 74 69, J Morrison (Eng) 73 70, W Ormsby (Australia) 70 73, S Kjeldsen (Den) 70 73, J Suri (USA) 76 67, A Otaegui (Esp) 69 74, M Southgate (Eng) 72 71, R Sterne (SAf) 75 68, J Choi (SKor) 69 74, J Rahm (Esp) 74 69, D Frittelli (SAf) 69 74, R McIlroy (Nir) 70 73, N Elvira (Spn) 69 74, A Rai (Eng) 72 71, F Aguilar (Chile) 72 71
144 M Warren (Sco) 70 74, J Wang (SKor) 74 70, R Gouveia (Por) 73 71, R Wattel (Fra) 72 72, G McDowell (Nir) 71 73, G Bourdy (Fra) 71 73, H Porteous (SAf) 73 71, P Hanson (Swe) 71 73, B Stone (SAf) 74 70, M Manassero (Ita) 72 72, T Bjørn (Den) 73 71, R Ramsay (Sco) 70 74, A Saddier (Fra) 68 76, T Aiken (RSA) 71 73, D Fichardt (SAf) 72 72
145 D Drysdale (Sco) 76 69, C Ford (Eng) 73 72, P Larrazábal (Spn) 74 71, A Bland (Australia) 76 69, B Dredge (Wales) 72 73, A Sullivan (Eng) 73 72, A Romero (Arg) 70 75, T Pieters (Bel) 73 72, A Dodt (Aus) 74 71, P Dunne (Irl) 73 72, B Hebert (Fra) 72 73, J Guerrier (Fra) 76 69, R Rock (Eng) 68 77, D Brooks (Eng) 74 71,

MISSED THE CUT

146 P Harrington (Irl) 68 78, C Paisley (Eng) 72 74, M Korhonen (Fin) 74 72, E Pepperell (Eng) 76 70, C Shinkwin (Eng) 75 71, E Molinari (Ita) 76 70, G Moynihan (Irl) 73 73, P Khongwatmai (Tha) 72 74, S Brown (Eng) 74 72, R Bland (Eng) 74 72, F Zanotti (Par) 73 73, H Tanihara (Jpn) 71 75, R McGee (Irl) 72 74, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 75 71
147 R Cho (SKor) 74 73, J Kruyswijk (SAf) 72 75, N Bertasio (Ita) 80 67, Evans ( eng) 70 77, M Baldwin (Eng) 72 75, A Pavan (Ita) 74 73, M Kinhult (Swe) 77 70, M Schwab (Aut) 71 76, S Hend (Aus) 78 69, L Slattery (Eng) 73 74, P McGinley (Irl) 73 74, C Sharvin (Nir) 73 74, J Winther (Den) 73 74, R Cabrera Bello (Esp) 76 71, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 73 74, M Kieffer (Ger) 75 72, M Foster (Eng) 77 70, G Green (Mas) 73 74
148 S Chawrasia (Ind) 73 75, D Howell (Eng) 73 75, A Connelly (Can) 75 73, C Moriarty (Irl) 73 75, L Bjerregaard (Den) 75 73, C Sordet (Fra) 74 74, S Sharma (India) 74 74, J Smith (Eng) 73 75
149 O Farr (Wal) 77 72, S Gros (Fra) 75 74, H Li (Chn) 73 76, C Blomstrand (Swe) 77 72, T Detry (Bel) 74 75, N Geyger (Chi) 75 74, C Syme (Sco) 72 77, G Havret (Fra) 76 73, A Quiros (Spn) 75 74, B Neil (Sco) 79 70, D Lipsky (USA) 73 76, B Rumford (Australia) 78 71
150 S Brazel (Australia) 77 73, J Scrivener (Aus) 73 77, L Gagli (Ita) 72 78, D Im (USA) 80 70, M Siem (Ger) 73 77 
151 D Clarke (Nir) 75 76, C McNamara (Irl) 76 75 
152 L Canter (Eng) 75 77, N O'Briain (Irl) 78 74, M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 77 75, A Levy (Fra) 80 72, C Pigem (Spn) 75 77
153 R Karlsson (Swe) 76 77, M Wallace (Eng) 80 73 
154 S Fernandez (Spn) 75 79
155 T Pulkkanen (Fin) 77 78, P Oriol (Spn) 78 77, L Jensen (Den) 79 76, J Walters (RSA) 75 80,
156 S Gallacher (Sco) 78 78, S Lee (SKor) 78 78,
158 J Norris (Australia) 82 76,
159 C Koepka (USA) 78 81,
** M Fraser (Australia) 76 RT, H Sturehed (Swe) 80 WD, A Wu (China) 73 DQ, T Immelman (SAf) 71 DQ, C Hanson (Eng) RT 0,