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Ronan Rafferty and Philip Walton made the halfway cut in the Seniors Open Championship at Royal Porthcawl ion Friday, trailing runaway leader, Bernhard Langer.
Langer added a 66 stroke card to his opening 65 for an 11 under par total of 131 to move seven clear of Chris Williams and Colin Montgomerie, who produced a stunning 66 for 138, carding eight birdies.
“I played very smart, very aggressive, then very smart and I was fortunate to some extent, but I have played very well the last two days,” Langer said afterwards.
“It wasn’t the kind of start I wanted today, but from that point on, I settled down and I played some really good golf.
Opportunities
“I missed a couple of opportunities earlier on, but then I started to play a little better as well and brought it home to the clubhouse with six-under-par from that point on, which I’m very pleased with overall.”
Rafferty, in his first year as a senior and only a part-time competitor golfer these days, posted a second round two over par 73 for a 36-hole total of 148-six over par, just one stroke inside the cut.
“I have not been playing much lately so my main aim was to make the cut, ” said Rafferty, who played at Porthcawl in the 1980 amateur championship and home internationals before turning professional and competing in the Coral Classic on the South Wales links.
Philip Walton, who threatened to challenge for the lead for a time on Thursday but finished with a one-over-par 72, just survived the cut following a 77 for 149.
Having started with a triple bogey seven and the 1995 Ryder cup winner never recovered although a birdie four at the last saved him from elimination.
“It was tough out there today but no excuses, I played badly,” said Walton.
Des Smyth was disappointed with 79 to go out of the tournament on 151 after starting with four straight bogeys.
Mark McNulty also missed out along with Denis O’Sullivan.
