Open de France: Cut hurts McDowell and Lowry
PARIS, FRANCE - JUNE 30: Peter Uihlein of The United States plays his second shot on the 10th during day two of the HNA Open de Feance at Le Golf National on June 30, 2017 in Paris, France. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
The Irish Open is now hugely important to Graeme McDowell and Shane Lowry after they missed the cut in the weather-delayed HNA Open de France – the second tournament in the European Tour’s Rolex Series.
Ranked 93rd in the world and 150th in the Race to Dubai, two-time French Open winner McDowell was banking on a big week in Paris but instead bogeyed his last four holes to shoot 76 and miss the cut by two strokes on three-over par.
The 37-year old former US Open champion has yet to qualify for The Open but having decided not to enter Final Qualifying, he still has two more chances to make it if he can grab on of three spots on offer for leading non-exempt top 10 finishers in the Irish Open at Portstewart or the following week’s Scottish Open.
Lowry, who is now 69th in the world and 58th in the Race to Dubai, added a six-over 77 to his opening 74 to miss the cut by eight shots.
The Clara man started on the back nine and was already out of it when he played the back nine at Le Golf National in five-over 40 for the second day running.
Paul Dunne, who is also chasing an Open spot via the top-10 route, added a 72 to his opening 70 to make the cut with a shot to spare on level par.
The Greystones man is eight strokes behind American Peter Uihlein (67) and Spain’s Adrian Otaegui (66), who lead by a stroke on eight under par from England’s Tommy Fleetwood (68) and Sweden’s Alexander Björk (69).
First round leader Paul Waring of England is on six under par after a one over par round of 72 while Spain’s Jon Rahm, who is making his debut in a regular European Tour event, goes into the weekend five off the lead on three under par after signing for a 69.
Darren Clarke was left propping up the leaderboard on 160 after adding a 76 to his opening 84.
Peter Uihlein
"I've holed a decent amount of putts, which I didn't do at all at the U.S. Open. So to kind of come, I guess a week and a half later, and start hole some putts and making a few, it takes a lot of pressure off a lot of things. Makes it a little more comforting.
"It was a good day. I hit it pretty good. Made some nice putts I guess. I was pretty steady, really, so it was all right. Any time you go 34 holes without a bogey anywhere you're doing okay.
"Still have 36 holes left, so you never know. But I think any time you can kind of get off to, put yourself into contention after two days is where you want to be and see where you're at as the weekend plays out."
Adrian Otaegui
“I made a bogey on the second and missed a five iron just on the right and couldn't make the up-and-down. And after that, I played great from the tee and made good swings with the driver and the three wood from the tee.
“I made a birdie on six with a good second shot and chipped on nine. That helped, as well. Then played really well on the second nine. I hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens, and then I was lucky, as well, to hole two long putts, so I’m happy with the round.
“I made a few changes on my swing the week off just before Germany and looks like it's on the right way. It looks like it's working well. I just have to keep working on that.”
Tommy Fleetwood
“It's always quite tricky when you have to go back out. It was a shame because I felt like I had a lovely rhythm again today. So you don't want to come in. But it was fine. At least we got to finish. It's nice to finish this evening than getting up early tomorrow morning and coming back. The last two holes, 17, 18, are a couple of tough holes. A couple of pars there is a nice end to the day really.”
Paul Waring
“I would have taken the score through 36 holes. Obviously I really got it going yesterday. I gave myself a couple of chances out there today, but I just didn't hole enough of the shorter putts.
“There are some really tough flags out there at times. The 17th and fourth were playing really tough into the teeth of the wind. We had a little bit of rain there, as well. It was a bit of a different golf course today. It was a little harder, it demanded a bit more from you, really.”
Jon Rahm
“I haven’t seen the fairway too much... My game off the tee, I wish it could be better. I mean, I've been trying to fix it. I don't know what's going on. At least now I'm missing right instead of left which is something I can play with. But I’ve been lucky to manage myself around and shoot under par twice, with only five fairways today and five yesterday, which is something that's pretty unusual here.
"My ball-striking after the tee shot feels great. My irons look good. My short game feels great. My putting feels great. I've been making a lot of long putts. Short game being the special one feeling, right. So I feel like I can be aggressive. I just need to give myself a chance to be on the fairway and maybe make some birdies.”
Round Two Scores (Par 71)
134 P Uihlein (USA) 67 67, A Otaegui (Esp) 68 66,
135 A Björk (Swe) 66 69, T Fleetwood (Eng) 67 68,
136 P Waring (Eng) 64 72, N Kimsey (Eng) 66 70,
137 R Fisher (Eng) 70 67, T Pieters (Bel) 66 71, G Storm (Eng) 71 66,
138 G Bourdy (Fra) 70 68, B Dredge (Wal) 69 69, T Olesen (Den) 69 69, R Langasque (Fra) 73 65, R Rock (Eng) 71 67, R Karlberg (Swe) 68 70, A Sullivan (Eng) 68 70, L Westwood (Eng) 71 67,
139 H Porteous (RSA) 72 67, K Broberg (Swe) 68 71, M Kieffer (Ger) 71 68, G Havret (Fra) 73 66, B Wiesberger (Aut) 70 69, D Drysdale (Sco) 70 69, S Hend (Aus) 69 70, F Aguilar (Chi) 72 67, J Rahm (Esp) 70 69, N Bertasio (Ita) 69 70,
140 N Fasth (Swe) 70 70, M Korhonen (Fin) 72 68, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 71 69, J Luiten (Ned) 69 71, T Aiken (RSA) 73 67, R Fox (Nzl) 73 67, A Levy (Fra) 69 71, N Elvira (Esp) 72 68, A Johnston (Eng) 72 68, A Noren (Swe) 69 71,
141 C Shinkwin (Eng) 69 72, L Haotong (Chn) 71 70, F Molinari (Ita) 71 70, P Larrazábal (Esp) 68 73, F Zanotti (Par) 69 72, I Poulter (Eng) 72 69, J Donaldson (Wal) 72 69, A Saddier (Fra) 68 73, J Fahrbring (Swe) 71 70, T Fisher Jnr (RSA) 71 70, F Fritsch (Ger) 67 74,
142 J Smith (Eng) 70 72, M Kaymer (Ger) 69 73, J Lagergren (Swe) 70 72, D Perrier (Fra) 71 71, G Stal (Fra) 69 73, C Wood (Eng) 72 70, O Fisher (Eng) 73 69, Paul Dunne (Irl) 70 72, J Scrivener (Aus) 73 69, M Siem (Ger) 69 73, C Hanson (Eng) 72 70, L Jensen (Den) 73 69, P Angles (Esp) 72 70, E Pepperell (Eng) 71 71, D Im (USA) 70 72, R Sterne (RSA) 73 69,
143 D Brooks (Eng) 72 71, N Colsaerts (Bel) 70 73, S Gros (Fra) 73 70, J Quesne (Fra) 71 72, R Gouveia (Por) 73 70, T Bjørn (Den) 73 70, T Jaidee (Tha) 72 71, P Khongwatmai (Tha) 71 72,
CUT
144 S Manley (Wal) 72 72, M Pavon (Fra) 74 70, J Stalter (Fra) 74 70, A Dodt (Aus) 73 71, L Bjerregaard (Den) 71 73, A Cañizares (Esp) 72 72, S Lee (Kor) 72 72, C Sordet (Fra) 71 73, E Dubois (Fra) 72 72, T Hatton (Eng) 74 70,
145 J Campillo (Esp) 74 71, R Jacquelin (Fra) 75 70, Graeme McDowell (Nir) 69 76, H Otto (RSA) 72 73, B Rumford (Aus) 70 75, C Berardo (Fra) 69 76, C Shih-Chang (Tpe) 73 72, J Van Zyl (RSA) 72 73, E Molinari (Ita) 73 72, R Bland (Eng) 74 71, B Ritthammer (Ger) 73 72, D Willett (Eng) 72 73,
146 J Guerrier (Fra) 71 75, M Wallace (Eng) 72 74, W Ashun (Chn) 75 71, A Quiros (Esp) 74 72, S Kjeldsen (Den) 73 73, D Fichardt (RSA) 72 74, M Armitage (Eng) 71 75, D Howell (Eng) 73 73, B Stone (RSA) 69 77, R Karlsson (Swe) 70 76, R Knox (Sco) 72 74,
147 R Paratore (Ita) 77 70, S Gallacher (Sco) 72 75, E De La Riva (Esp) 76 71, D Stewart (Sco) 69 78, P Hanson (Swe) 72 75, D Frittelli (RSA) 73 74, L Yan-Wei (Chn) 69 78, R Ramsay (Sco) 74 73, M Ilonen (Fin) 74 73, J Kruger (RSA) 72 75, T Detry (Bel) 72 75,
148 M Manassero (Ita) 75 73, M Fraser (Aus) 73 75, A Chesters (Eng) 71 77, T Immelman (RSA) 75 73, Z Lombard (RSA) 73 75, C Paisley (Eng) 72 76, T Linard (Fra) 71 77, S Jamieson (Sco) 74 74, R Wattel (Fra) 75 73,
149 M Southgate (Eng) 76 73, J Morrison (Eng) 72 77, S Heisele (Ger) 76 73, J Lima (Por) 73 76, M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 76 73, M Foster (Eng) 72 77, S Brazel (Aus) 78 71, V Dubuisson (Fra) 72 77, D Burmester (RSA) 75 74,
150 G Coetzee (RSA) 68 82, M Carlsson (Swe) 73 77, C Pigem (Esp) 73 77, J Walters (RSA) 71 79,
151 S Dyson (Eng) 70 81, Shane Lowry (Irl) 74 77,
152 D Lipsky (USA) 76 76,
153 B Hebert (Fra) 79 74,
154 H Tanihara (Jpn) 73 81, L Slattery (Eng) 77 77, S Walker (Eng) 73 81, J Olazábal (Esp) 73 81, A Knappe (Ger) 74 80,
155 P Peterson (USA) 77 78,
156 M Warren (Sco) 77 79,
157 W Ormsby (Aus) 81 76,
158 J Carlsson (Swe) 75 83,
159 A Romero (Arg) 77 82,
160 Darren Clarke (Nir) 84 76,
** K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 78 DQ, J Wang (Kor) 74 RT, A Wall (Eng) RT 0,
