Lawrie caresses tour card, Higgins close

Peter Hedblom must win in Perth to keep his card. So far, so good. He leads by two. Picture © Getty ImagesPeter Lawrie and David Higgins took giant steps towards retaining the European Tour cards by making the cut in the final counting ISPS HANDA Perth International at Lake Karrinyup.

The pair were boosted two places closer to all important the Top 110 in the money list on Thursday evening when the European Tour announced it would be removing affiliate members Tim Clark and Carl Pettersson from the Race to Dubai standings on Sunday night because they have not played 13 events this year and are not committing to taking up membership in 2014

Lawrie and Higgins suddenly knew - if they hadn’t already been told unofficially - that they were respectively 112th and 113th in the rankings rather than 114th and 115th, a huge difference.

The late bonus would mean nothing unless they could make the cut and both did the hard part on Friday.

Lawrie shot a two under 70 to make the cut with three shots to spare on one under, ending a run of six missed cuts on the spin and leaving him odds on to retain his tour card.

He needs to make just €1,357 to overtake 110th ranked Richard Green in the Race to Dubai and with 70th place prize money of €2,687, he can only be denied by injury, disqualification, or some heroics from the players behind him in the rankings.

No fewer than 19 players have a mathematical chance of doing just that, though only a handful of them look to have a remotely realistic chance actually pulling it off.

Lawrie, of course, can make life even harder for them by finishing well up the leaderboard and while he’s tied for 21st, he’s just three shots outside the top three.

His biggest threat is Swede Peter Hedblom, who leads the tournament by two shots on seven under par after rounds of 68 and 69.

Ranked 179th in the Race to Dubai, Hedblom must win to save his card and if he does, Lawrie must finish solo 45th at worst.

Soren Hanson (third) and Richard Finch (tied eighth) can also overtake Lawrie if they finish in the top three. There are other scenarios that can damage Lawrie and while a Top-10 finish would fend off all comers, it would take a series of freak results to deny him if he finished in the the top 45 and Hedblom grabbed his first win for four years.

Higgins, who dropped three shots in his last six holes, made the one over par cut right on the mark with a 72 and at tied 54th, he now needs to push on for 47th place at worst, especially if Hedblom goes on to win. However, he cannot afford to cruise and a top 25 worth €15,000 is top of his shopping list.

The 43 year old Swede arrived in Western Australia needing nothing less than a victory to secure his place on The European Tour, and after rounds of 68 and 69 he finds himself two shots clear and in with a chance to write a fairytale ending to the regular season.

He’s two clear of Ryder Cup star Ross Fisher on seven under with Hansen, Clint Rice, Josh Younger, Jin Jeong and Dimitrios Papadatos a further shot back.

Hedblom is hoping to repeat a similar feat by pal Michael Jonzon back in 2009.

“I love fairy tales,” smiled Hedblom. “A similar thing actually happened to my best friend on Tour, Michael Jonzon, in 2009. He was like me, way back and needed a big finish in Castellón which was his last tournament and he won it – he beat Martin Kaymer. That was a fairy tale story.

“That was the same year as my last win, so it has been a little while for me but I know I have the game to do it. It’s been two great days so far and it is great right now to be leading.

“We’ll see – I think the closer I get to Sunday, the more difficult it will become but I don’t really have anything to lose. If I want to play another year, full year on Tour, I need to win. So you just have to go for it and have fun.”

Michael Hoey is the best of the Irish, tied for 12th on two under after rounds of 73 and 69.

“The greens are rock hard but they are the perfect putting surface,” Hoey said. “If you miss it on the short side, you have absolutely nothing, unless you hit the pin, or 20 feet at best. So you can’t be too aggressive.

“It’s like Augusta - 30 feet up the hill is a lot better than seven feet downhill because you have to just dribble some putts. It’s a really good experience. I wish we played more tournaments here [in Australia] but I have played nicely so far.”

As for the predicament facing Lawrie and Higgins, Hoey said: “I played a few practice holes with Peter. Looks like he had a great score today, which was great. He’s a very solid player so I am sure he will be fine.

“He probably needs to play quite well at the weekend but I think he will be fine.”

Complete Round Two Scores:

137 P Hedblom (Swe) 68 69;

139 R Fisher (Eng) 72 67;

140 C Rice (Aus) 68 72; D Papadatos (Aus) 69 71; J Jeong (Kor) 68 72; J Younger (Aus) 70 70; S Hansen (Den) 71 69;

141 B Ninyette (Aus) 72 69; J Nitties (Aus) 68 73; B Van Pelt (USA) 70 71; R Finch (Eng) 72 69;

142 M Fraser (Aus) 72 70; N Cullen (Aus) 69 73; R Haller (Aus) 72 70; M Brown (Nzl) 70 72; C Campbell (Aus) 71 71; N O’Hern (Aus) 69 73; F Andersson Hed (Swe) 69 73; M Hoey (Nir) 73 69; J Scrivener (Aus) 75 67;

143 P Wilson (Aus) 72 71; P Lawrie (Irl) 73 70; P Spargo (Aus) 72 71; D McKenzie (Aus) 75 68; R McGowan (Eng) 71 72; D Johnson (USA) 69 74; J Hansen (Den) 70 73; G Paddison (Nzl) 74 69; A Kaleka (Fra) 74 69; F Zanotti (Par) 75 68; D Willett (Eng) 72 71;

144 J McLean (Aus) 76 68; T Bond (Aus) 71 73; J Sjöholm (Swe) 71 73; M Korhonen (Fin) 73 71; R Blizard (Aus) 70 74; S Little (Eng) 69 75; S Kjeldsen (Den) 76 68; C Lee (Sco) 73 71; A Bland (Aus) 72 72; D Bransdon (Aus) 71 73; O Fisher (Eng) 72 72; E Kofstad (Nor) 71 73; B Rumford (Aus) 71 73;

145 W Ormsby (Aus) 73 72; J Morrison (Eng) 73 72; C Doak (Sco) 72 73; S Dartnall (Aus) 74 71; A Brown (Aus) 70 75; T Cox (Aus) 75 70; D Higgins (Irl) 73 72; J Walters (RSA) 76 69; P Cooke (Aus) 72 73;

146 M Tullo (Chi) 75 71; S Wakefield (Eng) 72 74; S Jones (Aus) 74 72; B Åkesson (Swe) 69 77; B Grace (RSA) 73 73; G Havret (Fra) 73 73; L McKechnie (Aus) 74 72; S Jeffress (Aus) 76 70; D Popovic (Aus) 72 74; N Basic (Aus) 72 74; R Bland (Eng) 75 71; C Parry (Aus) 72 74; D Drysdale (Sco) 72 74; J Wade (Aus) 76 70; S Henry (Sco) 74 72; R McEvoy (Eng) 76 70;

CUT

147 B Rankin (Aus) 71 76; A Hall (Aus) 72 75; M Griffin (Aus) 73 74; J Lara (Esp) 73 74; M Moore (Aus) 78 69; T Petersson (Swe) 70 77; A Crawford (Aus) 75 72; D Fox (Aus) 75 72; A Martin (Aus) 74 73; R Coles (Eng) 70 77; P Casey (Eng) 76 71; A Levy (Fra) 74 73; M Ballard (Aus) 75 72; J Kingston (RSA) 74 73;

148 J Geary (Nzl) 78 70; N Holman (Aus) 75 73; M Jager (Aus) 74 74; A Kelly (Aus) 74 74; R Fox (Nzl) 74 74; J Wilson (Aus) 75 73; G Lockerbie (Eng) 74 74; M Jonzon (Swe) 73 75; T Van Der Walt (RSA) 75 73; K Mueck (Aus) 75 73; K Richardson (Aus) 78 70; L Jensen (Den) 77 71; N Green (Aus) 76 72; B Lamb (Aus) 72 76; A Summers (Aus) 75 73; B Watt (am) (Aus) 69 79;

149 A Snobeck (Fra) 73 76; R Karlberg (Swe) 76 73; M Wright (Aus) 76 73; K Pratt (Aus) 79 70; P O’Malley (Aus) 73 76; M Cain (Aus) 75 74; J Norris (Aus) 78 71; P Fowler (Aus) 77 72; C Hancock (Aus) 75 74; M Stieger (Aus) 75 74; M Millar (Aus) 74 75; B Stone (RSA) 77 72;

150 M Sim (Aus) 76 74; J Edfors (Swe) 73 77; A Buckle (Aus) 74 76; S Laycock (Aus) 77 73; O Floren (Swe) 75 75; S Leaney (Aus) 74 76; C Paisley (Eng) 77 73; T Wood (Aus) 75 75;

151 M Foster (Aus) 76 75; A Stolz (Aus) 75 76; M Pearce (Nzl) 78 73; P Lonard (Aus) 73 78; A Dodt (Aus) 78 73; M Guyatt (Aus) 74 77;

152 R Lynch (Aus) 78 74; A Hartø (Den) 77 75; A Presnell (Aus) 76 76;

153 M Nixon (Eng) 79 74; K Felton (Aus) 78 75; R Batibasaga (Aus) 77 76; A Katholos (Aus) 73 80;

154 P Erofejeff (Fin) 75 79;

155 B Shilton (Nzl) 77 78; L Gagli (Ita) 78 77; L Deagan (Aus) 78 77;

156 R Kulacz (Aus) 80 76; J Lagergren (Swe) 81 75;

157 M Goggin (Aus) 79 78;

158 G Reed (Aus) 81 77; M Delpodio (Ita) 78 80;

159 A Tschudin (Aus) 82 77;

160 D Van Der Walt (RSA) 78 82;

162 M Giles (Aus) 85 77;