Paul McGinley's Irish Open challenge was blown off course at wind-lashed Fota Island yesterday.

This time it was bad putting that cost McGinley his chance of mounting another serious challenge for the title as he slumped to a two over par 73.

"I just didn't play well", said a tight-lipped McGinley. "It was windy alright but the conditions weren't that bad."

The 31-year-old Dubliner three-putted twice and also missed a three-foot putt for par on the second (his 11th). His first mistake came at the 12th where hit a four iron into the centre of the green only to three putt.

It was a similar story at the 220-yard 17th where he barely reached the fringe with a three-iron and took three putts from 60 feet.

His horrors continued after the turn where he ran up two quick bogeys to go to three over for his round. And although he bounced back to birdie the short third from 10 feet and the par five 5th with a delicate chip to just five feet, it wasn't to be McGinley's day.

The 179-yard seventh proved to be the final nail in his coffin when his five iron tee-shot found a bunker and he failed to hole for par form six feet. But there were plenty of other horror stories amongst the home challengers.

Former Ryder Cup stars Philip Walton and Ronan Rafferty both missed the cut after rounds of 73 while Warrenpoint's Paddy Gribben ran up a quadruple bogey seven on the par three 13th on his way to a 78.

Incredibly, Gribben insisted that his score could have been even worse. "Only my short game saved me from finishing about 20 over for the tournament," Gribben revealed.

"Everything has been going wrong for me over the past month and I'm a total of 44 over par for the last ten rounds. Gribben at least has his Challenge Tour card to fall back on, unlike Walton or Bray's Keith Nolan.

Having lost his right to play the US Tour at the end of last season, Nolan flew in from Tennessee on a sponsor's invitation but could only manage a four over par 75 yesterday to go with his first round 71.

"I got off to a terrible start with bogeys at the first three holes and when I hit my second in the water with only a four-iron at the 10th I was struggling.

"I'll try and qualify for more Buy.com Tour events to try and get my confidence back for the T (qualifying) school," said Nolan. "My driving has been the problem but it was my irons that let me down this week."

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© Brian Keogh 2001

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