Conor Purcell will be aiming for a weekend charge after he safely made the cut at the Soudal Open at Rinkven International Golf Club.
Purcell added a second round of 69 to a Thursday 70 to lie in a share of 21st on three-under, eight shots behind halfway leader Ewen Ferguson of Scotland.
The Portmarnock man began on the back nine and rolled in a birdie on the eleventh before handing that shot back on the par-3 12th. He birdied the par-5 17th to turn in the red and added a third birdie of the day on the par-3 2nd.
Purcell finished with all pars as he looks to keep his recent upturn in form on track.
Ferguson surged into a three-shot halfway lead after a stunning second-round 64.
The 28-year-old Scot carded seven birdies at Rinkven International GC as he completed a second successive bogey-free round for an 11-under-par total.
That was three shots clear of England’s Marco Penge, with Dutchmen Joost Luiten and Darius van Driel, American Troy Merritt and English trio John Parry, Brandon Robinson Thompson and Andrew Wilson sharing third on seven under.
Ferguson said: “I was hitting it really well on the range and I knew it was windy at the start so I was just thinking fairways and greens, don’t do anything too fancy. I’ve got a new putter in play this week and it felt good, I was rolling it nicely.
“Even my bad shots today, I still seemed to have some sort of a shot or made something out of it but the game kicks you often enough so nice to make something out of it.
“I was in control of my ball today and when I was out of position I just got back in position and I was chipping really well, so I was always getting it up and down and that kept momentum going.
“I quite enjoy when a par is a good score. I find it tough sometimes when you just need to make birdies and there’s a lot of pressure on to make birdies. So when it’s quite tough like that to grind out pars, I feel comfortable with that because that’s how I was brought up playing and in Scotland par is a brilliant score.”
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