After a promising opening round saw three of the eight Irish in red figures as scoring proved tough at Bowood Golf Club in Wiltshire, day two proved more of a grind and just one of the eight was able to break par on the day.
Rowan Lester, whose three-under 69 had been the best of the bunch on day one, shot a second-round 73 to slip back to -2 overall and now lies tied for 16th, two clear of Robert Brazill who matched with a 73 of his own to fall back to level-par.
Liam Grehan carded one stroke more in his second round, and his 74 leaves him on +1 overall and tied for 37th, but just the right side of the cutline which excluded everybody at +2 and beyond.
That means that Niall Kearney and John Hickey missed out by the minimum as the Dubliner bogeyed two of his final four holes and Hickey, whose one-under 71 was the best of the eight Irish on the day, was unfortunate to come up shy.
Paul Dunne, Conor Murtagh and Scott Montgomery completed the Irish interest, but all three were well off the pace this week.
It’s an all-England affar at the top as Curtis Griffiths continues to lead the way after backing up his opening 66 with a second-round 70, and he has a two shot advantage over the trio of Jack Yule, Joseph Quinn and David Hague, all of whom lie joint second at -6.
