Greystones' rookie Paul Dunne produced a disappointing finish to see his hopes of a maiden professional win dented badly in the Australian PGA Championship.

The Co Wicklow native bogeyed the second but birdied the eighth and ninth to go out in one-under par and keep the leaders in his sights. But he played the back nine in four over 40, following a bogey at the 11th with a bogey, double bogey finish.

After missing 10 greens in regulation, it all added up to a three over 75 for the 23-year old, who is tied for 28th on three over and six strokes behind leader David Lingmerth.

The Swede holds a one-shot lead at the halfway stage as he made an impressive start to life as an Affiliate Member of the European Tour.

Lingmerth’s win at Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament in June has helped him leap over 100 paces in the Official World Golf Ranking in 2015, and he became an Affiliate Member of The European Tour for 2016 in a bid to make Darren Clarke’s Ryder Cup team.

The 28 year old’s chances of a perfect start to his qualification bid were strengthened as a four under par 68 gave him a one shot lead on three under at RACV Royal Pines Resort.

Not that Lingmerth is the only player with a chance to become the first European to win the event since David Howell in 1998, with England’s Mark Foster and Spain’s Pablo Martin Benavides part of a seven-strong group tied for second on two under.

American Peter Uihlein is also part of a strong European Tour challenge in the week the 110 year old event makes its first appearance on The Race to Dubai International Schedule.

South Africa’s overnight leader Zander Lombard, his compatriot Dylan Frittelli, and Australia’s Matthew Millar complete the group one behind Lingmerth, with England’s Tom Lewis and Australia’s Jason Scrivener among those a shot further back in a tie for eighth.

Mount Juliet’s Kevin Phelan added a 75 to his opening 78 to miss the cut by three strokes on six over.

David Lingmerth 

“I know that I’ve won on the PGA Tour so of course that gives me some confidence going into the weekend but at the same time there are so many good players on every tour around the world who can all shoot 7, 8 under, both rounds out there over the weekend, so you never know how it’s going to turn out. I’m really going to have to play very well to win but I do feel like I should have a good shot. I had a great summer really and this fall hasn’t been as good as I would have liked it to, but I feel like my game, throughout the whole fall it’s been pretty close, just not great.”

Pablo Martin

“I’m so happy. This game is so much fun when it goes the right way so I am really pleased. I played a really good round and am happy with the score. Yesterday also was a good round but it was kind of tricky to make the putts. The greens are very slick with the bermuda. You can tell they’re still a little bit young but it’s all good. It’s a great return to form for me. I mean it’s been a very solid year. By far I’m playing the best golf in all my life, much better than I ever have as as a professional.”

Mark Foster

“I was surprised at the pin positions, with the scoring yesterday, there’s some really tough pins out there but it’s a big championship, so it is fair enough. The Australian PGA, it’s a big title, so it’s their prerogative and it looks like it’s going to be like that all week. Eeverybody here wants to win, but I’ll hit you with a cliche here, we’ve only played two rounds. Obviously this calendar year I’ve not been in contention match but this might be the start of a new season hopefully. I’ve been very flat for a long time. Obviously I’m not a jumping through hoops kind of person but it was nice to have a bit of adrenalin going, see your name on a board, it was good and I’m long enough in the tooth to know what to do at the weekend that is for sure.”

Peter Uihlein

“Today was much more efficient. I hit 17 greens so it was better. It’s tough when the rain comes and goes and then it’s as windy as can be and then it kind of lays down. The weather has been a shocker! Last week at the Aussie Open was windy as can be too but that’s all part of the fun. I had a good end to the year and played well in Dubai, China, Turkey and Hong Kong so I am just trying to build on that and have a good weekend.”

Round Two Scores

141 D Lingmerth (Swe) 73 68, 

142 P Martin Benavides (Esp) 75 67, M Millar (Aus) 72 70, D Frittelli (RSA) 70 72, Z Lombard (RSA) 67 75, M Foster (Eng) 69 73, P Uihlein (USA) 75 67, 

143 R Gibson (Aus) 79 64, T Sinnott (Aus) 71 72, J Scrivener (Aus) 72 71, T Lewis (Eng) 72 71, A Hall (Aus) 70 73, 

144 R Fox (Nzl) 74 70, A Brown (Aus) 73 71, 

145 J Zunic (Aus) 73 72, N Holman (Aus) 77 68, D Lawson (Aus) 75 70, A Pike (Aus) 72 73, 

146 M Wright (Aus) 76 70, J Wilson (Aus) 73 73, B Rumford (Aus) 74 72, N Cullen (Aus) 72 74, S Manley (Wal) 77 69, B Eccles (Aus) 74 72, B Wharton (Aus) 76 70, D Papadatos (Aus) 75 71, S Fernandez (Esp) 74 72, 

147 Paul Dunne (Irl) 72 75, R Green (Aus) 73 74, N Bertasio (Ita) 75 72, N Basic (Aus) 74 73, H Park (Kor) 80 67, E Van Rooyen (RSA) 76 71, C Smith (Aus) 78 69, H Varner Iii (USA) 74 73, A Stephens (Aus) 71 76, 

148 J Younger (Aus) 75 73, A Curlewis (RSA) 76 72, B Åkesson (Swe) 74 74, D Klein (Ger) 77 71, P Lonard (Aus) 76 72, J Ritchie (RSA) 76 72, C Parry (Aus) 77 71, J Nitties (Aus) 76 72, M Griffin (Aus) 76 72, M McCardle (Aus) 74 74, 

149 A Price (Aus) 75 74, R Van Der Spuy (RSA) 76 73, B Virto Astudillo (Esp) 72 77, N Ravano (Ita) 73 76, B Rankin (Aus) 76 73, C Nel (RSA) 78 71, M Fraser (Aus) 76 73, D Fox (Aus) 75 74, L Canter (Eng) 79 70, M Goggin (Aus) 76 73, 

150 T Mordt (RSA) 79 71, C Hale (Aus) 78 72, J Hook (Aus) 76 74, J Senden (Aus) 73 77, D Lloyd (RSA) 78 72, P Cooke (Aus) 79 71, N Green (Aus) 76 74, A Summers (Aus) 80 70, J Lyle (Aus) 77 73, R Bourke (Aus) 74 76, J Geary (Nzl) 77 73, D Van Den Heever (RSA) 76 74, D McKenzie (Aus) 74 76, D Nisbet (Aus) 75 75, H Bateman (Nzl) 76 74, 

151 M Brown (Nzl) 76 75, L Jensen (Den) 77 74, M Sim (Aus) 78 73, B Jones (Aus) 77 74, M Long (Nzl) 78 73, M Baldwin (Eng) 79 72, S Leaney (Aus) 82 69, B Shilton (Nzl) 76 75, J Fahrbring (Swe) 77 74, S Allan (Aus) 77 74, D Bransdon (Aus) 77 74, A Martin (Aus) 76 75, J Kruyswijk (RSA) 72 79, S Lee (Kor) 76 75, G Chalmers (Aus) 76 75, W Ormsby (Aus) 74 77, C Hanson (Eng) 80 71, 

152 Y Liu (Chn) 76 76, V Sexton-Finck (Aus) 77 75, G King (Eng) 76 76, S Arnold (Aus) 78 74, J Walters (RSA) 76 76, P Edberg (Swe) 77 75, R Enoch (Wal) 77 75, L McKechnie (Aus) 76 76, O Bekker (RSA) 75 77, T Cooper (Aus) 79 73, R Carter (USA) 80 72, C Ford (Eng) 78 74, 

153 S Strange (Aus) 74 79, S Jamieson (Sco) 79 74, C Wood (Aus) 74 79, S Surry (Eng) 76 77, X Li (Chn) 76 77, T Van Der Walt (RSA) 76 77, K Phelan (Irl) 78 75, 

154 J Norris (Aus) 78 76, J Blaauw (RSA) 79 75, J McLeod (Aus) 81 73, A Houston (Aus) 76 78, P Senior (Aus) 77 77, E Molinari (Ita) 77 77, N O'Hern (Aus) 81 73, A Evans (Aus) 78 76, A Blyth (Aus) 79 75, 

155 N Gillespie (Nzl) 82 73, R Allenby (Aus) 76 79, O Goss (Aus) 80 75, R Pampling (Aus) 78 77, D Valente (Aus) 81 74, 

156 E Stedman (Aus) 77 79, P Hayden (Aus) 83 73, R Cairns (Zim) 78 78, T Wood (Aus) 77 79, T Moore (RSA) 80 76, L Tighe (Aus) 80 76, M Moore (Aus) 79 77, 

157 S Kim (Kor) 82 75, M Docking (Aus) 80 77, P Shields (Sco) 82 75, S Dartnall (Aus) 75 82, L Herbert (Aus) 77 80, 

158 R Ruffels (am) (Aus) 79 79, 

159 B Snedeker (USA) 84 75, J Choi (Kor) 82 77, A Murdaca (Aus) 76 83, S Ferreira (Por) 82 77, 

160 D Popovic (Aus) 83 77, G Fairfax (Aus) 78 82, T Bond (Aus) 76 84, G Paddison (Nzl) 82 78, F Bergamaschi (Ita) 81 79, 

161 R Lynch (Aus) 79 82, J Zhang (Chn) 82 79, K Mueck (Aus) 79 82, 

162 C Wright (Aus) 78 84, L Nemecz (Aut) 81 81, 

164 A Horne (Swz) 83 81, 

165 R Haller (Aus) 87 78, A Wilkin (Aus) 86 79, 

166 L Boezaart (RSA) 88 78, 

168 P O'Malley (Aus) 80 88, 

172 M Mandhu (Zim) 84 88, 

** J Lagergren (Swe) 84 WD, A Gaugert (USA) 89 RT.