Crowded at the Top of Irish Open; Rory Misses Cut


Austria's Bernd Wiesberger and Scotland's Richie Ramsay each posted 4-under 69s to get into a first-place tie with four others through 36 holes of the Irish Open. The European Tour event is taking place at a chilly and windy Royal County Down in Northern Ireland.

The 29-year-old Wiesberger began his second round on the 10th tee. The Vienna native posted three birdies and an eagle on the par-5 18th (his ninth hole) to make the turn in 5-under 31. On the home half the two-time European Tour winner had two bogeys and a birdie for a 1-over 36 on the par-71 classic links course.

"I'm hitting it much better than last week," Wiesberger told the European Tour's website in reference to missing the cut at the BMW PGA Championship, where he shot rounds of 77 and 74. "I put in some work on the weekend after what was a disappointing week at Wentworth. I drove the ball really nicely so far this week. It's important here, the fairways are not wide, to get chances, you need to come out of the fairway. I think I've done is pretty well today.

"The back nine was definitely some of the best I've played," added Wiesberger, who opened the tournament with a 1-over 72. "Obviously you've got to hole a couple of putts and sometimes you've got to scramble a little bit. I played pretty well today, even though I don't think anyone was going out there today without any dropped shots - it's hard. I really, really enjoyed the challenge out there and considering all that, I think this is one of my best rounds."

Joining Wiesberger at 3-under 139 are the 31-year-old Ramsay, who carded five birdies and a bogey, Denmark's Søren Kjeldsen (70), Spain's Rafa Cabrera-Bello (68), and Englishmen Tyrrell Hatton and Chris Wood.

Hatton carded the low round of the Irish Open so far, a 5-under 66, and Wood had a 69.

Just one stroke back heading into the weekend is three-time major champion Padraig Harrington, who followed up his 18-hole pacesetting 67 with a 73, and England's Luke Donald, who carded his second straight 70.

The only other player under par through two rounds is England's Matt Ford, who's posted a 70 and 71.

American Rickie Fowler is at even-par 143 and tied for 10th with England's John Parry and Welshman Bradley Dredge. Harrington's fellow first-round co-leader, Germany's Max Kieffer, fell into a tie for 13th at 143 after a 76.

Tournament host Rory McIlory of Northern Ireland wasn't able to overcome his nine-bogey 80 on Thursday. The 26-year-old and top-ranked player in the world got his first two birdies of the tournament, but a double on the par-4 15th hole brought the crowd favorite home with an even-par 71 to miss the 36-hole cut of 147 by four strokes.

McIlroy was disappointed that he won't be around for the weekend, especially since he'd pledged to donate all his winnings this week to his Rory McIlroy Foundation.

"I left myself too much to do from (Thursday)," he lamented. "I played a solid round of golf today but it just wasn't enough. The support out here was phenomenal but this is going to be the third year in a row that they won't see me playing at the weekend and that is disappointing, to say the least."

It was the second straight week McIlroy has missed a cut. He also didn't make it to the weekend at the BMW PGA Championship. Next up for the Ulsterman is the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay in Washington State.

Also missing the cut was No. 7-ranked Sergio Garcia. The 35-year-old Spaniard recorded rounds of 75 and 79 to finish at 12-over 154.

For all the scores, visit http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2015/tournamentid=2015040/leaderboard/index.html?showLeaderboard=Y.