Tom McKibbin’s Jekyll and Hyde season continued as he followed his T14 finish at last week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship with a missed cut at the acciona Open de España presented by Madrid.
Birdies weren’t an issue for the Holywood man – he made four – but mixed in six bogeys and a double as he slipped to a four-over 75 and missed the cut by six.
Matthieu Pavon was eager to maintain momentum after a big finish saw him keep hold of the lead heading into the weekend
The Frenchman started with rounds of 64-68 at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid en route to a runner-up finish 12 months ago and has gone 63-68 this week to lead the way at 11 under.
Pavon was close to surrendering his one-shot overnight cushion on day two but he birdied four of his last six holes to maintain a slender advantage over Dutchman Wil Besseling and India’s Shubhankar Sharma.
The 30-year-old is no stranger to being in contention at the right end of a leaderboard, with two wins on the Alps Tour and three second-place finishes on each of the European Challenge and DP World Tours.
This is the second time this season he has led after both 18 and 36 holes, having done the same at the DS Automobiles Italian Open before fading away at the weekend, and he knows the importance of keeping his foot on the gas as he seeks a maiden DP World Tour win.
“It looks like it is really a place that suits my game,” Pavon said. “Like I said yesterday, a lot of memories from last year and I really feel comfortable on the course. I see the shots quickly with the yardages I have got and obviously today was a strange day, it could have been much better when I started stronger, but it could have been much worse also, so I am just very pleased with today.
“I know that I putt great this week and that I would have a couple of chances on the back nine because there are two par fives, so I just tried to stay patient and wait for one putt to drop. This is what happened on the second for par, and suddenly everything clicked in a little bit and I had some momentum.”
Home favourite Alfredo Garcia-Heredia was then at nine under alongside Frenchman Mike Lorenzo-Vera, one shot clear of England’s Nathan Kimsey, with 11 players four shots off the lead.
Frenchman Julien Guerrier carded the lowest round of the day with a 63 and sits alongside his countrymen Romain Langasque and Antoine Rozner, local favourite Alejandro del Rey, Scot Grant Forrest, Italian Edoardo Molinari, England’s John Parry and Eddie Pepperell, German Marcel Siem, Dane Martin Simonsen and Paraguayan Fabrizio Zanotti at seven under.
Jon Rahm’s hopes of capturing a fourth Spanish Open in five years suffered as the world number three posted a one-over in round two to lie tied for 45th at -3 at the midpoint. With an eight-stroke deficit, the Ryder Cup star will need to hit the weekend afterburners if he’s to find himself in the mix coming down the stretch on Sunday.
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