Dunne seven off the lead in Germany
Henrik Stenson. Picture: Getty Images
Paul Dunne made four birdies and three bogeys in a one under 71 to share 22nd place at the halfway stage of the BMW International Open at Golf Club Gut Laerchenhof.
The Greystones player is four under par, seven strokes behind leaders Henrik Stenson, Frenchman Raphaël Jacquelin and Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat.
Michael Hoey followed a 76 with a 72 to miss the one under par cut by six shots — his 12th missed cut from 16 events this year.
As for Stenson, the Swede has four top-ten finishes from seven events on the European Tour this season and had yet to finish outside of the top 30 before his withdrawal from last week's US Open due to injury.
He opened with a 68 in Germany and followed that with a blemish-free 65 on Friday to move to 11 under and into a share of the lead with Frenchman Raphaël Jacquelin and Thailand's Kiradech Aphibarnrat.
Jacquelin followed his opening round of 68 with a 65 while Aphibarnrat came home in just 30 shots as he equalled the low round of the day with a 64.
Dane Thorbjørn Olesen was then a shot back on ten under after a second consecutive 67, while South African Zander Lombard lies a further shot back in fifth place.
Among those looking to hunt down Stenson, Jacquelin and Aphibarnrat over the weekend are defending champion Pablo Larrazabal and Sergio Garcia, who produced the tournament’s second hole in one in as many days, this time on the par three 12th hole.
Garcia’s ace, an eight iron from 158 yards which helped him finish on five under, won the Spaniard a free week’s stay at any Hilton hotel in the world, while 25 lucky fans in attendance at the tournament who took part in Hilton’s promotional campaign will share between them 1,000,000 Hilton Honors Points thanks to the Spaniard’s heroics.
Larrazabal, meanwhile, is four shots off the lead on seven under.
Henrik Stenson
“I came here to really try to put myself in contention and so far, so good; I've done that. There's been a few tournaments in this late spring, early summer, where I feel like maybe I've been showing up feeling like I'm working on my game and not been 100 per cent there to compete. Now we don't have too many tournaments before the Open Championship, the PGA and the Olympics, so it's time to put that tournament focus back on and then go out and do a good job. I've done that for two days and I'm going to try to push myself to do it another two.”
Raphaël Jacquelin
“It's always good to shoot a solid round after a good 65. That gave me some confidence for the weekend and put me right up there. I'm very happy about my ball striking and my short game. I'm just going to focus and stay focused on what I'm doing at the moment on my swing and my short game. The rest, I'll try my best to shoot low again, and we'll see at the end of the weekend.”
Kiradech Aphibarnrat
“This course is about the first shot. You put yourself in the fairways, you have opportunities to make a lot of birdies, and my putter was working better than yesterday. Striking the ball great at the flag, every single ball. It was a fantastic round. I haven't played good golf the last few month, but after I hit many good shots on the front nine, I got my confidence back and I believed in myself that I'm one of the top players.”
Sergio Garcia: “I hit a really nice eight iron, straight at the pin and it looked really good in the air but you never know. It pitched about four inches short of the hole and second bounce in it went. It was really good. I’ll enjoy my stay at the Hilton somewhere and it’s nice for the fans to also get some of those points so I hope they enjoy it.”
Round two scores
133 H Stenson (Swe) 68 65; R Jacquelin (Fra) 65 68; K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 69 64;
134 T Olesen (Den) 67 67;
135 Z Lombard (RSA) 67 68;
137 F Aguilar (Chi) 67 70; D Fichardt (RSA) 68 69; P Larrazábal (Esp) 68 69; J Luiten (Ned) 70 67;
138 A Hansen (Den) 70 68; J Carlsson (Swe) 70 68; B Wiesberger (Aut) 68 70; M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 69 69;
139 G Storm (Eng) 69 70; J Winther (Den) 68 71; R Bland (Eng) 71 68; S Garcia (Esp) 71 68; M Manassero (Ita) 72 67; J Van Zyl (RSA) 71 68; A Wall (Eng) 70 69; C Lee (Sco) 70 69;
140 B Ritthammer (Ger) 71 69; C Berardo (Fra) 71 69; S Manley (Wal) 71 69; M Carlsson (Swe) 68 72; T Jaidee (Tha) 69 71; A Sullivan (Eng) 71 69; R McGowan (Eng) 68 72; P Dunne (Irl) 69 71; T Lewis (Eng) 71 69;
141 F Laporta (Ita) 72 69; R Echenique (Arg) 70 71; R Fisher (Eng) 73 68; P Hanson (Swe) 71 70; M Fraser (Aus) 69 72; N Bertasio (Ita) 70 71; O Fisher (Eng) 66 75; N Cullen (Aus) 72 69; B Hebert (Fra) 77 64
142 B Dredge (Wal) 69 73; C Hanson (Eng) 72 70; R Karlsson (Swe) 72 70; S Chawrasia (Ind) 70 72; L Slattery (Eng) 74 68; J Hansen (Den) 71 71; R Ramsay (Sco) 71 71; B Stone (RSA) 70 72; B Virto (Esp) 73 69; R Gouveia (Por) 74 68; A McArthur (Sco) 71 71; R Dinwiddie (Eng) 69 73; F Zanotti (Par) 71 71; J Paul (am) (Ger) 72 70;
143 A Cañizares (Esp) 75 68; M Korhonen (Fin) 71 72; A Cejka (Ger) 72 71; S Jamieson (Sco) 69 74; D Brooks (Eng) 75 68; C Shinkwin (Eng) 75 68; P Meesawat (Tha) 69 74; L Nemecz (Aut) 74 69; D Horsey (Eng) 73 70; J Knutzon (USA) 72 71; R Kakko (Fin) 68 75; M Foster (Eng) 74 69; Y Yang (Kor) 74 69; N Elvira (Esp) 70 73; D Lipsky (USA) 70 73; E Molinari (Ita) 73 70; M Ilonen (Fin) 71 72; T Bjørn (Den) 70 73;
CUT
144 M Jiménez (Esp) 73 71; P Mejow (Ger) 72 72; S Dyson (Eng) 72 72; N Holman (Aus) 69 75; M Warren (Sco) 76 68; J Walters (RSA) 71 73; E De La Riva (Esp) 74 70; J Wang (Kor) 73 71; A Otaegui (Esp) 69 75; M Kieffer (Ger) 71 73; D Willett (Eng) 74 70; A Johnston (Eng) 74 70;
145 M Madsen (Den) 70 75; S Benson (Eng) 72 73; N Colsaerts (Bel) 73 72; U Van Den Berg (RSA) 75 70; R Green (Aus) 74 71; D Im (USA) 70 75; T Hatton (Eng) 72 73; C Paisley (Eng) 72 73; B Åkesson (Swe) 71 74; W Ashun (Chn) 71 74; G Boyd (Eng) 73 72; J Lagergren (Swe) 76 69; S Webster (Eng) 76 69;
146 J Campillo (Esp) 71 75; R Evans (Eng) 72 74; M Southgate (Eng) 71 75; T Fleetwood (Eng) 73 73; J Scrivener (Aus) 71 75; R Wattel (Fra) 73 73;
147 A Quiros (Esp) 73 74; D Dixon (Eng) 75 72; L McCoy (USA) 74 73; J Hugo (RSA) 74 73; J Parry (Eng) 75 72; R Lee (Can) 73 74; J Zunic (Aus) 76 71; R McEvoy (Eng) 72 75; S Hend (Aus) 71 76; E Pepperell (Eng) 72 75; B Rumford (Aus) 72 75; R Karlberg (Swe) 73 74; G Stal (Fra) 74 73;
148 D Howell (Eng) 74 74; G Coetzee (RSA) 74 74; M Ford (Eng) 73 75; T Van Der Walt (RSA) 77 71; L Canter (Eng) 73 75; F Fritsch (Ger) 77 71; A Dodt (Aus) 73 75; P Lawrie (Sco) 73 75; N Fasth (Swe) 72 76; M Kinhult (Swe) 78 70;
149 J Quesne (Fra) 77 72; M Hoey (Nir) 76 73; T Fisher Jnr (RSA) 78 71; J Kolbing (Ger) 74 75; B Evans (Eng) 76 73; M Baldwin (Eng) 76 73; J Fahrbring (Swe) 76 73;
150 R Paratore (Ita) 76 74; L Bjerregaard (Den) 77 73; J Singh (Ind) 75 75;
151 L Jensen (Den) 76 75; S Lee (Kor) 75 76; D Gavins (Eng) 81 70; Y Paul (am) (Ger) 73 78;
152 T Linard (Fra) 77 75; O Wilson (Eng) 72 80; G Havret (Fra) 77 75; S Gros (Fra) 79 73;
153 H Porteous (RSA) 79 74; L Haotong (Chn) 79 74; K Broberg (Swe) 80 73; D Drysdale (Sco) 76 77; J McLeary (Sco) 76 77;
154 J Jeong (Kor) 77 77;
155 R Davies (Wal) 79 76; M Siem (Ger) 73 82;
157 E España (Fra) 81 76;
158 M Röhrig (Ger) 74 84;
159 P Edberg (Swe) 79 80;
170 N Dougherty (Eng) 84 86;
** J Morrison (Eng) 75 WD.
