Ashbourne club pro John Dwyer made the cut with ease and declared - Now for the top ten.

Dwyer, 28, shot a 75 to finish on level par alongside the likes of Colin Montgomerie and Darren Clarke.

He said: "That's the hard bit over. Now that I've made the cut I can go for it."

Dwyer got off to a flyer with birdies at two of the first three holes to take the lead on five under par.

He said: "I got a lovely start and birded the first and third. Then I got a little be nervous after that to that and hit a few poor tee shots."

Dwyer made a bogey at the fifth and then double bogeyed the sixth when he dumped a three iron into the lake that guards the green.

Another bogey at the seventh sent him back to one under and he began to worry about the cut.

"At that stage I suppose you start to think about the cut and my target was to finish no worse than par at the end of the two days."

Birdie twos at the eighth and 17th put him back at three under before he dropped one at the 13th and then made a mistake at the tough 17th and carded a double bogey six.

"I made a bit of a boo-boo there," he confessed. "I hit a nice tee shot and went at the pin but missed the green right by a yard and then took three putts after trying to play a flop shot that didn't come off."

"I tried to get to three under and ended up back at par but I feel great and I'm looking forward to the weekend.

"I've achieved my main target and just five off the lead I can think about trying to finish in the top ten.

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© Brian Keogh 2002

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