Gavin Moynihan was gutted to miss out on a €170,000 sports car but thrilled to motor into contention for the Amundi Open de France and the chance to save his card.

As Paul Dunne missed the cut to leave himself almost certainly needing a solid week in Portugal next week to avoid Q-School, Moynihan (25) flew an eight-iron straight into the cup at the downwind, 169-yard 16th only to see his ball ricochet out of the hole.

"I was happy with par, but I couldn't believe it stayed out," the Mount Juliet touring professional said after adding a 69 to his opening 68. Scores

He goes into the weekend tied for sixth, just four shots behind the Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts and South Africa's George Coetzee on five-under-par and on track for the top-two finish that could save his card with one event to spare.

Denied a BMW i8 Roadster after seeing his tee shot repelled by the hole, Moynihan was relieved to see it spin back to 15 feet.

"I thought it was going to roll in the water at one point," added the Dubliner, who is 162nd in the Race to Dubai with only the top 117 keeping their cards after next week's Portugal Masters

"The car. Everyone on the tee was reminding me of the car."

His disappointment at missing out on a sports car, and even a birdie, was tempered by his delight at his nerveless display down the finishing stretch at Le Golf National.

"Yeah, it's been good," said Moynihan, who has made just two bogeys on the notoriously demanding Albatross Course where Colsaerts shot a five-under 66 and Coetzee a 68 to leave them one clear of American Kurt Kitayama on nine-under-par.

"Today was actually a bit better than yesterday. It was way tougher today, though.

"The ball was going a lot shorter. The wind at the start, the first seven, eight, nine holes, was probably the strongest I've played in a long time."

A maiden win would secure his card, but Moynihan could also have enough with second place tomorrow or top-five finishes this week and next.

Two-under for the day with five holes to go, he followed a bogey six at the 14th with a birdie from 20 feet at the next, and he was thrilled with his play down the stretch.

"Overall, it was a very good day, especially with the finish," Moynihan said. "After the bogey on 14, it was good to have some good swings coming in. Very happy."

Dunne could not undo the damage of an opening 77 with a level par 71 and his 13th missed cut of the season—and his seventh in his last eight starts - means he’s now got no room for manoeuvre.

The Greystones star (26) is projected to fall two places to 118th in the race for 117 cards, which means he must make the weekend in the Portugal Masters next week for face Q-School.

His problem is exacerbated by the presence of Colsaerts, Nicklas Lemke and Lee Slattery in the higher echelons of the leaderboard in Paris.

Colsaerts is 114th in the Race to Dubai and on track to make it to Turkey and the Nedbank if he wins; 117th ranked Lemke is tied 20th in Paris and projected to move up to 111th and 118th ranked Slattery is tied 13th on two-under and projected 110th.

Korea’s Jeunghun Wang (120th) has also made the cut, meaning he will also have a chance to overtake 116th ranked Dunne.

Colsaerts mastered the cold and windy morning weather to top the leaderboard at nine under par with a round of 66, ignited by five birdies in six holes from the tenth.

He was joined by South African Coetzee, who bounced back from a double bogey on the 16th – his seventh hole – to also record five birdies in six holes after the turn.

American Kitayama is one shot further back on eight under par, one shot clear of Scot Richie Ramsay, who recovered from a double bogey on the first to sign for a round of 69.

Denmark’s JB Hansen is then in fifth place at six under par, with the leading Frenchman Benjamin Hebert, German Major winner Martin Kaymer, Moynihan and South Africa pair Brandon Stone and Jaco Van Zyl a shot further back.

Player quotes

Nicolas Colsaerts: “Made a few long putts that kind of gave me momentum into the back nine, which was nice, and then free flowing for the rest. Pretty happy with the way I ended these first two rounds. It’s just like every golf course. If you play the right shots, you can get it close and you can make birdies.

“I think it will depend on the conditions. It’s not a golf course that you can go and get in attack mode 100 per cent of the time. It depends on the tee shots, wind direction and that kind of stuff. You can take a chance and try to take advantage on some of the holes. You have to choose them right I guess.”

George Coetzee: 

“Very happy. The plan was to get a nice, late tee time so I can watch the rugby tomorrow morning. It was a tricky day. I think I got the good side of the draw there because the wind died down on the back nine, and you can see it started getting a little easier and made a couple more birdies. 

"I wasn't too upset with the front nine. I made one bad decision and played the other holes pretty well. It’s always nice to kind of build momentum going into the weekend.”

Kurt Kitayama:

“Today was a lot tougher. Especially in the morning. It was really cold, and not really sure how far the ball's flying.

“Just grinding it out and really fighting for a good round. When it's playing this tough, and you come out with a couple under, it feels really good. Coming into today, I was definitely thinking it was going to be really tough, but it was a lot of fun.”

Richie Ramsay:

“It wasn't easy out there today. Any time you shoot under par around Le Golf National, it's a pretty good day's work. It's one of those days where everybody is going to make mistakes and you need to minimise those and hopefully take advantage of the good shots you hit in there.

“Disappointed to finish with a bogey but overall really happy because it was a tough start. Really proud to bounce back well and obviously 69 is a good score considering the way I started.”

Amundi Open de France, Le Golf National (Par 71)

Detailed scores

133 G Coetzee (RSA) 65 68, N Colsaerts (Bel) 67 66,

134 K Kitayama (USA) 66 68,

135 R Ramsay (Sco) 66 69,

136 J Hansen (Den) 68 68,

137 B Hebert (Fra) 66 71, Gavin Moynihan (Irl) 68 69, M Kaymer (Ger) 68 69, B Stone (RSA) 68 69, J Van Zyl (RSA) 67 70,

138 J Donaldson (Wal) 71 67, V Perez (Fra) 67 71,

139 H Swafford (USA) 74 65, S Brown (Eng) 71 68, S Chawrasia (Ind) 70 69, R Fox (Nzl) 65 74, T Detry (Bel) 71 68, K Samooja (Fin) 67 72, L Slattery (Eng) 71 68,

140 D Lawson (Aus) 68 72, M Kinhult (Swe) 69 71, S Cink (USA) 70 70, N Lemke (Swe) 73 67, H Leon (Chi) 68 72,

141 R Paratore (Ita) 69 72, A Sullivan (Eng) 70 71, J Lando Casanova (Fra) 69 72, G Green (Mas) 73 68, R Langasque (Fra) 68 73, C Saxon (USA) 70 71,

142 J Quesne (Fra) 70 72, O Fisher (Eng) 70 72, K Reitan (Nor) 68 74, B Dredge (Wal) 69 73, G Fdez-Castaño (Esp) 69 73, G Bourdy (Fra) 70 72, D Horsey (Eng) 70 72, S Horsfield (Eng) 70 72, J Scrivener (Aus) 69 73, S Gallacher (Sco) 70 72, J Smith (Eng) 68 74, C Paisley (Eng) 68 74, R Wattel (Fra) 72 70, J McLeod (Aus) 73 69, C Larcelet (am) (Fra) 71 71, J Ko (am) (Fra) 73 69,

143 M Warren (Sco) 71 72, T Immelman (RSA) 73 70, J Wang (Kor) 74 69, D Lipsky (USA) 71 72, N Højgaard (Den) 67 76, A Chesters (Eng) 70 73, T Pieters (Bel) 74 69, S Sharma (Ind) 72 71,

144 M Schmitt (Ger) 72 72, D Fichardt (RSA) 67 77, L Johnston (Sco) 68 76, B Evans (Eng) 71 73, L Herbert (Aus) 71 73, A Noren (Swe) 72 72, J Morrison (Eng) 71 73, C Shinkwin (Eng) 70 74, R McEvoy (Eng) 69 75, F Lacroix (Fra) 72 72, A Wu (Chn) 70 74, J Walters (RSA) 67 77,

145 A Saddier (Fra) 73 72, R Gouveia (Por) 71 74, V Dubuisson (Fra) 69 76, Y Miyazato (Jpn) 72 73, H Porteous (RSA) 72 73, M Pavon (Fra) 73 72, L Gagli (Ita) 71 74, T Pulkkanen (Fin) 76 69, J Luiten (Ned) 69 76, A Cañizares (Esp) 75 70,

CUT

146 C Sordet (Fra) 72 74, E Van Rooyen (RSA) 70 76, J Kruyswijk (RSA) 72 74, J Stalter (Fra) 72 74, S Kjeldsen (Den) 76 70, A Levy (Fra) 69 77, J Dantorp (Swe) 73 73, N Elvira (Esp) 75 71, M Schwab (Aut) 68 78, S Brazel (Aus) 73 73,

147 D Law (Sco) 71 76, C Bouniol (Fra) 72 75, D Howell (Eng) 74 73, N Cullen (Aus) 72 75, C Wood (Eng) 73 74, A Rai (Eng) 72 75,

148 A Otaegui (Esp) 73 75, E Molinari (Ita) 70 78, O Wilson (Eng) 72 76, E Kofstad (Nor) 71 77, L De Jager (RSA) 74 74, S Jamieson (Sco) 74 74, Paul Dunne (Irl) 77 71,

149 B Ritthammer (Ger) 76 73, M Kieffer (Ger) 74 75, S Manley (Wal) 76 73,

150 R Fisher (Eng) 76 74, R Jacquelin (Fra) 74 76,

151 T Bjørn (Den) 76 75, P Langfors (Swe) 78 73, H Tanihara (Jpn) 76 75,

152 J Singh Brar (Eng) 75 77, H Park (Kor) 75 77,

153 S Soderberg (Swe) 75 78,

154 G Migliozzi (Ita) 78 76, J Olazábal (Esp) 77 77, A Karlsson (Swe) 77 77, D Ravetto (am) (Fra) 76 78,

157 R Karlsson (Swe) 76 81,

** J Suri (USA) 71 WD, G Bhullar (Ind) 75 WD, M Siem (Ger) DQ 0, P Figueiredo (Por) DQ 0, D Gavins (Eng) DQ 0,