Dunne scrapes into weekend as Hend faces hurricane fears

CRANS-MONTANA, SWITZERLAND - SEPTEMBER 08: Scott Hend of Australia plays an approach shot on the 18th  during Day Two of the 2017 Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club on September 8, 2017 in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.  (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

Paul Dunne made the cut by the skin of his teeth as Scott Hend moved to the top of the leaderboard at the Omega European Masters.

Hend has his wife Leanne on the bag but the couple faces a personal dilemma with their children having to vacate their family home in Florida due to Hurricane Irma.

Hend is based in Jacksonville, which recently declared a state of emergency, and their children and child minder have departed their home to escape the storm.

While there have been some restless nights this week, it certainly has not affected Hend's game as the Australian attempts to better his runner-up finish at the stunning Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club last year, when he lost out in a playoff to Swede Alex Noren.

The two-time European Tour winner hit every green in regulation on day two in Switzerland as an eagle two at the famous seventh hole, along with five birdies, helped him to a bogey-free 63 and a one-stroke lead on 13 under par.

One shot behind him was another multiple winner on tour, Darren Fichardt of South Africa, who also signed for a 63 courtesy of an eagle and five birdies, while Paraguayan Fabrizio Zanotti (65), Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand and Australia’s Todd Sinnott (both 66) were three shots further back on nine under.

Dunne added a one-over 71 to his opening 69 to make the cut on the level par mark, tweeting: "Managed to scrape through the cut @omegaEUmasters barely, which means two more days of beautiful scenery and a straying golf ball! #maybe."

Managed to scrape through the cut @omegaEUmasters barely, which means two more days of beautiful scenery and a straying golf ball! #maybe pic.twitter.com/4wZZUjmN1Y

— Paul Dunne (@dunners11) September 8, 2017

Scott Hend

“I think we’ve had better conditions in the last two days than we had last year so we’ll see what happens at the weekend.

“I was just plodding along in the first six holes and I couldn’t hit a shot, and then I just hit a pure five wood and it landed fantastic on the green, rolled up to about four feet and I rolled it in to kick the round off a bit. I think we got a bit fortunate with the wind in the afternoon today, it wasn’t very windy out there. But the greens seemed to bake out a little bit in the drier weather so it became a little tricky to read putts out there.

“Hopefully that experience from last year can help but we’ll see tomorrow. This golf course is quite a beast when it gets rainy and windy s it’s the old cliché that it is what it is so we’ll just take it one step at a time. It would be nice to putt a little bit better but you walk off with 63 you’re pretty happy. I just tried to play a bit more conservative than usual and I got lucky with a few shots.

“We’re a bit worried about our kids back in Florida with the sitter, in the hurricane. We’ve been up late at night trying to find contingency plans and we’re going to get them out of there, it’s not worth the risk.”

Darren Fichardt

“It has been pretty solid. I am just playing the course as it is. The first nine was very quiet, I only made one birdie on seventh but I started tearing it up heading into the back nine which was quite nice. I am very happy with the way I am playing and very happy with where I lie.

“I hit very good putts on the front nine but was just missing the holes and burning edges. I said to my caddie that the putts are bound to drop so I made a good one on the 11th hole. That sort of kickstarted my back nine.

“I am 12-under now and one behind Hend. It’s going to be fun. You just have to eliminate the mistakes out there. The greens can really bite you if you’re missing on the wrong sides. You can make easy bogeys. You just need to think a lot out there, make the right shots at the right time I guess. I just have to keep doing what I have been doing.

“It’s obviously going to be a lot trickier with the expected rain tomorrow. You got to hit it a little bit longer but the course condition is pretty much the best I have seen so you shouldn’t be affected by the rain too much.”

Thongchai Jaidee

“I felt really good out there. I played well yesterday and today. I only had one three-putt on my first hole (tenth) today. My game feels pretty consistent. I hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens these two days. My putting is getting better. I felt like it has improved after two rounds here this week.

“I holed a few long putts out there. Today, I had two and one of them was for eagle on 15 where I sank a 25-footer. The other one was for the birdie on fourth about the same distance from greenside. These long putts gave me a lot of confidence heading into the round.

“I am happy to be in the lead now. I am looking forward to the next two rounds. I have been training with my coach back home before coming here. We worked on my putting. We just built an indoor putting green at home and I was able to practice more.

“I will try to do the same things for the next two rounds. The most important thing is to hit the ball onto the fairways first and then play your best iron-play to get onto the greens before trying to hole the putts."

Fabrizio Zanotti

“I am very happy with the first two days. I played solid and putted well so I’m really happy. I don’t have a very good history here but I always enjoy coming here so that’s always good.

“After the USPGA Championship I took a few weeks off and I worked on my game. I came in refreshed here, I am ready to try to play my best for the rest of the year.

“Obviously you need to have a lot of patience here and putting the ball on the fairways is really important here. I try to think well out on the course and be in the moment, and play as I do in the practice rounds.

“I hear tomorrow is going to be really bad weather-wise but there’s nothing we can do, we just need to try our best and see where we end up.”

Matthew Fitzpatrick

“Obviously bogey-free is always nice and I’m delighted with it. I didn’t feel like I played my best these first two days but I scrambled very well.

"That’s what you’ve got to do around here, you’re not always going to hit your best shots and these greens are difficult here, they’re small. If you can make it up and down plenty you’ll be alright.”

“This place turned my season around in 2015 really. I was struggling to hit a draw and then all of a sudden just this week I went with hitting a fade and a lot of the holes here suit that, so it feels nice. It’s not the longest course in the world too, so I feel like if I can get irons in my hand I can still play well.

“The big thing around here is you have to be patient, there are a lot of short par fours and short par fives so you have to take your time and I’d like to think I have experienced it before and I know what I’m doing. Hopefully, I can take that into the weekend now and play well.”

Scores:

127 S Hend (Aus) 64 63, 

128 D Fichardt (RSA) 65 63, 

131 T Jaidee (Tha) 65 66, F Zanotti (Par) 66 65, T Sinnott (Aus) 65 66, 

132 R Fox (Nzl) 65 67, M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 67 65, J Suri (USA) 67 65, 

133 C Pigem (Esp) 66 67, R Sterne (RSA) 68 65, A Björk (Swe) 68 65, S Gallacher (Sco) 68 65, 

134 N Elvira (Esp) 70 64, D Drysdale (Sco) 65 69, R Gonzalez (Arg) 69 65, D Im (USA) 66 68, D Burmester (RSA) 70 64, 

135 D Stewart (Sco) 65 70, L Bjerregaard (Den) 68 67, M Kieffer (Ger) 68 67, J Luiten (Ned) 67 68, S Kapur (Ind) 68 67, T Hatton (Eng) 64 71, 

136 P Saksansin (Tha) 70 66, R Wattel (Fra) 67 69, L Jensen (Den) 68 68, F Fritsch (Ger) 67 69, J Morrison (Eng) 69 67, A Da Silva (Bra) 66 70, R Ramsay (Sco) 69 67, M Fraser (Aus) 68 68, 

137 L Slattery (Eng) 75 62, D Lipsky (USA) 67 70, D Brooks (Eng) 70 67, M Jiménez (Esp) 64 73, A Romero (Arg) 69 68, P Peterson (USA) 67 70, G Havret (Fra) 69 68, A Noren (Swe) 70 67, C Hanson (Eng) 70 67, 

138 E De La Riva (Esp) 70 68, N Bertasio (Ita) 69 69, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 69 69, A Wall (Eng) 70 68, J Lagergren (Swe) 68 70, M Armitage (Eng) 68 70, W Ashun (Chn) 69 69, T Lewis (Eng) 70 68, P Tangkamolprasert (Tha) 72 66, M Siem (Ger) 71 67, L Westwood (Eng) 71 67, J Quesne (Fra) 70 68, H Porteous (RSA) 69 69, 

139 B Hebert (Fra) 70 69, D Frittelli (RSA) 68 71, R Karlberg (Swe) 69 70, R Gouveia (Por) 67 72, D Horsey (Eng) 73 66, N Holman (Aus) 69 70, S Henry (Sco) 72 67, D Perrier (Fra) 67 72, J Scrivener (Aus) 70 69, L Donald (Eng) 68 71, 

140 S Brazel (Aus) 68 72, P Larrazábal (Esp) 68 72, F Aguilar (Chi) 68 72, M Wallace (Eng) 72 68, Paul Dunne (Irl) 69 71, R Bland (Eng) 70 70, L Galliano (Sui) 70 70, B Rumford (Aus) 67 73, J Walters (RSA) 70 70, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 70 70, R Jacquelin (Fra) 71 69, M Ilonen (Fin) 70 70, G Stal (Fra) 72 68, S Crocker (am) (USA) 66 74,

CUT

141 N Srithong (Tha) 73 68, W Ormsby (Aus) 71 70, G Bourdy (Fra) 74 67, B Dredge (Wal) 72 69, A Otaegui (Esp) 69 72, T Detry (Bel) 70 71, R Rock (Eng) 74 67, J Lima (Por) 69 72, M Warren (Sco) 73 68, P Hanson (Swe) 67 74, S Walker (Eng) 70 71, 

142 M Pavon (Fra) 67 75, J Kruger (RSA) 70 72, M Manassero (Ita) 72 70, S Jamieson (Sco) 77 65, J Norris (Aus) 74 68, T Fleetwood (Eng) 72 70, C Wood (Eng) 73 69, J Janewattananond (Tha) 72 70, J Freiburghaus (am) (Sui) 74 68, 

143 G Storm (Eng) 72 71, R Fisher (Eng) 74 69, S Vincent (Zim) 70 73, S Chawrasia (Ind) 73 70, J Carlsson (Swe) 74 69, R Khan (Ind) 75 68, A Bernadet (Fra) 73 70, S Gros (Fra) 75 68, 

144 R Gangjee (Ind) 73 71, P Pittayarat (Tha) 71 73, J Donaldson (Wal) 72 72, A Dodt (Aus) 76 68, M Carlsson (Swe) 74 70, M Kawamura (Jpn) 72 72, C Shinkwin (Eng) 69 75, P Widegren (Swe) 78 66, A Quiros (Esp) 69 75, V Dubuisson (Fra) 74 70, 

145 R De Sousa (Sui) 71 74, D Boonma (Tha) 74 71, J Smith (Eng) 72 73, R Paratore (Ita) 70 75, M Tabuena (Phi) 75 70, O Fisher (Eng) 76 69, G Coetzee (RSA) 70 75, R Langasque (Fra) 74 71, 

146 N Fasth (Swe) 71 75, T Chuayprakong (Tha) 71 75, B Rusch (Sui) 74 72, B Wiesberger (Aut) 71 75, A Levy (Fra) 74 72, L Cianchetti (Ita) 72 74, C S (Ind) 73 73, 

147 R Wannasrichan (Tha) 74 73, E Molinari (Ita) 74 73, J Campillo (Esp) 72 75, B Ritthammer (Ger) 77 70, C Shih-Chang (Tpe) 74 73, P Khongwatmai (Tha) 71 76, 

148 C Paisley (Eng) 76 72, D Chia (Mas) 73 75, B Stone (RSA) 75 73, T Wiratchant (Tha) 75 73, P Swangarunporn (Tha) 76 72, D Willett (Eng) 76 72, 

149 N Fung (Mas) 74 75, S Dyson (Eng) 78 71, 

150 M Grönberg (Swe) 75 75, A Knappe (Ger) 81 69, J Ballesteros (Esp) 78 72, L Wei-Chih (Tpe) 78 72, 

151 S Rahman (Ban) 73 78, 

152 A Ameil-Planchin (am) (Sui) 77 75, G Fortini (am) (Ita) 72 80, 

155 J Burnier (Sui) 77 78, 

158 H Rouillon (am) (Fra) 82 76, 

159 L Denk (am) (Aut) 82 77, 

** S Lee (Kor) 75 RT, T Bjørn (Den) RT 0,