Thornton leads Irish at KLM Open
Pablo Larrazábal on the ninth tee at Kennemer Golf & Country Club on Friday 12th September 2014. Picture: Thos Caffrey / www.golffile.ie
Five of the 10 Irish made the cut as Pablo Larrazábal fired a course record 62 to lead the KLM Open at Kennemer Golf & Country Club.
As Larrazábal started his second round with six consecutive birdies before stalling en route to a 10 under par total and a two-shot lead over Edoardo Molinari (66) and Romain Wattel (65), Simon Thornton topped the Irish challenge.
The former Royal County Down assistant shot a one under 69 to share 22nd on three under with Pádraig Harrington tied for 32nd on two under despite having 31 putts in a 68.
Shane Lowry (69) and Damien McGrane (68) are in the pack on one under while Darren Clarke had five birdies in seven holes in 67 that saw him make the cut on the level par limit.
Peter Lawrie shot 70 but missed by two on two over with Gareth Maybin (72), Kevin Phelan (71) and Michael Hoey (71) four shots outside the mark. David Higgins (74) was six over.
According to the European Tour:
Larrazábal raced out the blocks with a front nine of just 28 shots, having started on the tenth tee, and although he could not keep that breathless pace going, he picked up three further birdies on the way in, with his only bogey of the day coming on the penultimate hole.
The Spaniard, who is chasing a second European Tour title of 2014 following his victory in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship in January, shaved a stroke off the previous course record shared by seven players, and he is ten under par for the tournament, with Frenchman Romain Wattel and Italian Edoardo Molinari his nearest challengers on eight under par following rounds of 65 and 66 respectively.
Scotland’s Richie Ramsay aced the 154 yard par three 11th hole – his second after starting on the tenth – with an eight iron on his way to a round of 65. He shares fourth place with Denmark’s Søren Hansen (66) and American Peter Uihlein (68) on six under par.
Defending champion and home favourite Joost Luiten had led by one stroke overnight following an opening round of 65, but the Dutchman struggled on the greens en route to a level par round of 70 to stay at five under par, five shots back in a seven-way share of seventh position.
Complete second round scores from the KLM Open (par 70)
130 P Larrazábal (Esp) 68 62,
132 E Molinari (Ita) 66 66, R Wattel (Fra) 67 65,
134 R Ramsay (Sco) 69 65, S Hansen (Den) 68 66, P Uihlein (USA) 66 68,
135 T Aiken (RSA) 67 68, B Koepka (USA) 69 66, J Luiten (Ned) 65 70, M Kieffer (Ger) 67 68, A Sullivan (Eng) 67 68, T Hatton (Eng) 68 67, M Ilonen (Fin) 69 66,
136 J Heath (Eng) 69 67, A Pavan (Ita) 66 70, T Pieters (Bel) 70 66, J Kruger (RSA) 73 63, M Warren (Sco) 68 68, O Fisher (Eng) 70 66, C Wood (Eng) 69 67, S Dyson (Eng) 70 66,
137 G Stal (Fra) 66 71, J Hahn (USA) 71 66, J Carlsson (Swe) 70 67, J Lima (Por) 70 67, T Fleetwood (Eng) 70 67, D Howell (Eng) 68 69, D Im (USA) 67 70, E Pepperell (Eng) 69 68, M Foster (Eng) 70 67, S Thornton (Irl) 68 69,
138 N Elvira (Esp) 71 67, R Karlsson (Swe) 69 69, C Lee (Sco) 69 69, R Kakko (Fin) 69 69, E Grillo (Arg) 72 66, P Casey (Eng) 68 70, J Hansen (Den) 72 66, R Saxton (Ned) 71 67, P Harrington (Irl) 70 68, R Derksen (Ned) 71 67,
139 I Van Weerelt (Ned) 69 70, A Gee (Eng) 69 70, M Carlsson (Swe) 68 71, R Jacquelin (Fra) 71 68, T Lewis (Eng) 70 69, D McGrane (Irl) 71 68, G Bhullar (Ind) 70 69, S Lowry (Irl) 70 69, C Doak (Sco) 69 70, A Kaleka (Fra) 72 67, J McLeary (Sco) 67 72, J Quesne (Fra) 70 69, W Ormsby (Aus) 70 69,
140 M Crespi (Ita) 71 69, N Colsaerts (Bel) 72 68, D Clarke (Nir) 73 67, E Goya (Arg) 67 73, J Morrison (Eng) 73 67, J Parry (Eng) 71 69, R Rock (Eng) 73 67, R Bland (Eng) 70 70, J Doherty (Sco) 69 71, M Jiménez (Esp) 71 69, B An (Kor) 72 68, J Singh (Ind) 72 68, G Fdez-Castaño (Esp) 71 69, P Waring (Eng) 69 71, D Huizing (Ned) 72 68, W Besseling (Ned) 68 72, S Kjeldsen (Den) 70 70, G Bourdy (Fra) 73 67, T Olesen (Den) 69 71, M Korhonen (Fin) 71 69, N Fasth (Swe) 70 70, J Krietemeijer (am) (Ned) 71 69,
CUT
141 J Olazábal (Esp) 69 72, K Broberg (Swe) 72 69, C Del Moral (Esp) 71 70, A Quiros (Esp) 69 72, M Nixon (Eng) 71 70, R Kind (Ned) 72 69,
142 P Lawrie (Irl) 72 70, A Forsyth (Sco) 70 72, D Horsey (Eng) 72 70, M Lampert (Ger) 71 71, D Foos (Ger) 68 74, S Manley (Wal) 72 70, A Wall (Eng) 74 68, A Hansen (Den) 71 71, P Whiteford (Sco) 70 72, V Riu (Fra) 69 73, M Baldwin (Eng) 70 72, M Manassero (Ita) 68 74, D Van Driel (am) (Ned) 73 69,
143 J Knutzon (USA) 71 72, R Santos (Por) 72 71, G Storm (Eng) 73 70, A Otaegui (Esp) 72 71, M Madsen (Den) 71 72, S Jamieson (Sco) 71 72, L Slattery (Eng) 72 71, D Fichardt (RSA) 69 74, B Collier (Sco) 73 70,
144 P Lawrie (Sco) 71 73, M Lafeber (Ned) 73 71, C Arendell (USA) 72 72, M Hoey (Nir) 73 71, S Walker (Eng) 78 66, D Stewart (Sco) 70 74, G Havret (Fra) 75 69, K Phelan (Irl) 73 71, M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 73 71, S Wakefield (Eng) 75 69, G Maybin (Nir) 72 72, B Rumford (Aus) 73 71,
145 F Andersson Hed (Swe) 73 72, R Green (Aus) 71 74, T Björn (Den) 71 74, S Prins (am) (Ned) 77 68,
146 S Kapur (Ind) 75 71, J Campillo (Esp) 75 71, J Blixt (Swe) 70 76, B Paolini (USA) 75 71, P Sjöland (Swe) 74 72, S Kim (Kor) 75 71, D Higgins (Irl) 72 74, T Remkes (Ned) 75 71, D Drysdale (Sco) 73 73,
147 R Fisher (Eng) 75 72, J Billing (Swe) 73 74,
148 D Lipsky (USA) 74 74, D Brooks (Eng) 75 73,
148 M Lundberg (Swe) 73 75, F De Vries (Ned) 71 77,
149 L Bjerregaard (Den) 73 76, H Otto (RSA) 77 72,
150 F Calmels (Fra) 74 76, E De La Riva (Esp) 73 77,
151 J Lara (Esp) 76 75, J Kingston (RSA) 77 74, J Jeong (Kor) 76 75, V Van Veen (am) (Ned) 74 77,
152 T Sluiter (Ned) 76 76, A Hartø (Den) 75 77,
153 S Strüver (Ger) 76 77, E Dubois (Fra) 76 77,
155 J Dantorp (Swe) 77 78,
157 L Keunen (am) (Ned) 78 79, K Reints (am) (Ned) 79 78,
** A Saddier (Fra) 82 WD, T Levet (Fra) RT 0, R Gonzalez (Arg) RT 0, F Aguilar (Chi) RT 0, F Zanotti (Par) RT 0,
** D Lynn (Eng) 75 WD,
