THE RELIEF ON Shane Lowry’s face said it all as he scrambled to make par on the final hole to ensure he will play into the weekend at the Irish Open.
Lowry made hard work of it, putting his second on 18 into the water, and was forced to get up and down to make the cut on two-over par.
Ricardo Gouveia’s birdie-birdie finish meant he made it by the skin of his teeth after a double bogey on 12 threatened to end the Offaly native’s challenge.
Lowry once again got the worst of the conditions at the K Club as wind and rain made scoring tricky for the late starters.
He started brightly, carding a birdie on the first, but bogeys on six and nine followed while water trouble on the 12th and a further bogey on 15 very nearly proved fatal.
While the luck of the draw has been unkind to the 29-year-old, he will breath a huge sigh of relief as he joins a healthy Irish contingent in qualifying for what promises to be an exciting weekend.
Rory McIlroy leads the home challenge as he looks to capture his first Irish Open title.
The world number three added a second round two-under par 70 to his opening score of 67 to move within a shot of the leading duo of Marc Warren and Danny Willett.
Masters champion Willett has bounced back from missing the cut in last week’s Players Championship, adding a 71 to his opening score of 65 as the Englishman seeks to win for a third occasion this season.
Warren’s score is his lowest in some six months and the first occasion in 10 events this year, including six where he has missed the halfway but, where the 35-year old-will have strung together back-to-back four round showings.
Willett had moved to nine-under par with back-to-back birdies at his 13th and 14th holes but then dropped the fourth shot of his round at his 16th to fall back into a tie with Warren.
McIlroy is confident he’s finally turned around an indifferent season as he seeks a first success since last November in capturing the European Tour season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
The four-time Major winner grabbed five birdies in his round of 70 and none better than holing a 30-footer at his last.
However, he also posted three bogeys, something he says he needs to eradicate if he’s to win for a first time as a professional in Ireland.
“There was still a little bit of frustration out there as I felt I could have been better today,” he said.
“But if you look at the leader board I’m only one shot off the lead. I have a couple of rounds under par but then it would have been nice to shoot something in the 60s but I felt I controlled my game pretty well.
“I made a few more mistakes today, and it was pretty tricky with the wins but then a 70 is as decent score.
“And with my tournament host cap on, it’s great to see Danny up there. I was very pleased that he committed to come and play.
“Anytime you have a current Major Champion up there near the top of the leader board, always makes for a better tournament.”
South African pair Richard Sterne and Jaco Van Zyl are in hot pursuit while Matthew Southgate carded a three-under par 69 on Friday to sit three shots behind.
Pádraig Harrington was the most notable casualty after he left himself with too much to do following Thursday’s damaging round of 76.
But there is plenty of green on the leaderboard with Kevin Phelan, Paul Dunne, Gary Hurley, Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley and Gavin Moynihan all well-placed.
Close to 18,000 spectators were in attendance at the Kildare estate on Friday, with organisers expecting large crowds over the weekend.
With reporting from AFP
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