Alastair Forsyth slumps from leaderboard to outside cut

ALASTAIR Forsyth, who was just two strokes off the lead after an opening 64, is set to miss the cut in the Joburg Open after taking 12 shots more in his second round at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington.

In contrast to his flawless first round, the Paisley man was out of sorts yesterday as he slumped to a five-over-par 76 on the longer East Course.

When play was suspended due to lightning, Forsyth, who dropped a shot at the first and had five more bogeys on his card, was lying outside the cut mark on two-under and looked to have blown his chance of starting 2010 by picking up a cheque tomorrow night.

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Of the 11 Scots who teed up in the event, only two had definitely made it into the final two rounds, with one other in with a chance of joining them when the second round is completed this morning.

Fifer Peter Whiteford, who won the Challenge Tour Grand Final at the end of last season, shot a second-day 69 to lie in joint-14th on seven-under, while Alan McLean, who was raised in South Africa but now lives in Canada, was two shots back in a tie for 38th after a 66 that included seven birdies.

Former Scottish Amateur champion Andrew McArthur was among the 30 players who were unable to finish their second round due to the bad weather. Five-under at the start of the day, he'd dropped two shots and can't afford any more slip ups in his final three holes this morning to join Whiteford and McLean in the closing 36 holes.

Callum Macaulay (70) was alongside Forsyth on two-under, while David Drysdale, third in this event last year, missed out on one-under despite a second-round 69.

Stephen Gallacher (69) and Paul Lawrie (73) were also on one-under, Jamie McLeary (74) finished on level-par, with Steven O'Hara (71) and Scott Drummond (78) going out on one-over and six-over respectively.

England's David Lynn has another chance to shake off his journeyman label when he takes a one-stroke lead into the third round of the tournament today.

The 36-year-old from Stoke has not had to return to the European Tour qualifying school since 1999 and has earned over 3.5million. However, he has won only once in more than 300 starts and that was seven years ago.

A second round 67 at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington took the former England amateur international to 12 under par at halfway and one ahead of title favourite, Charl Schwartzel.

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The South African has to go back only to last Sunday for his last success and did not a drop a stroke yesterday in a 68 interrupted by the same thunderstorm which halted the fourth Test at the nearby Wanderers ground.

The 40-year-old Ryder Cup star is in a share of third place with England's Danny Willett and Schwartzel's compatriots Hendrik Buhrmann and Jbe Kruger.

Leader Lynn said of his round last night: "I hit it stiff on the first for birdie and that put me in a good frame of mind. Yesterday (Thursday] I was a bit tentative with the putter. Today it was much easier."

Schwartzel commented: "It seems like the form from last week is carrying over and with a good weekend, if I play like I'm playing, it could get very interesting.

"If you can eliminate the mistakes you're always going to be playing good golf and you need to make those little 10 or 12-footers to keep you in the tournament."

WEST COURSE

132 Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 68 64, Danny Willett 65 67

133 Keith Horne (Rsa) 68 65, James Kamte (Rsa) 67 66

134 Oliver Bekker (Rsa) 70 64

135 Kevin Stone (Rsa) 72 63, Peter Whiteford 66 69, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 66 69, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 71 64, Simon Thornton 70 65

136 Gary Lockerbie 70 66, Titch Moore (Rsa) 68 68, Warren Abery (Rsa) 69 67, Robert Dinwiddie 70 66, TC Charamba (Zim) 68 68, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 70 66

EAST COURSE

130 David Lynn 63 67

131 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 63 68

132 Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 63 69, Darren Clarke 63 69

133 Hennie Otto (Rsa) 67 66

134 Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 67 67, Paul Broadhurst 66 68, Neil Schietekat (Rsa) 62 72

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