George Murray maintains form to stay in Madeira hunt

GEORGE Murray, playing in only his seventh European Tour event, is just one shot off the lead at the halfway stage in the Madeira Islands Open.

The 26-year-old from Anstruther followed an opening 66 at Porto Santo Golfe with a 67 for an 11-under-par two-round total. That put him as the nearest challenger to Englishman James Morrison, who added a 65 to his opening 67 to step up his bid for a first professional win.

Murray, whose biggest cheque on the main circuit is for 5,338 and came in this event two years ago, stayed in contention with a round that contained seven birdies, the same total he had amassed on the opening day.

Backing him up going into the final two rounds are fellow Fifer Jamie McLeary and Glaswegian Andrew McArthur, who, like Murray, is a former Scottish amateur champion. McLeary, who won on the Challenge Tour at Spey Valley last year, followed his first-round 67 with a 70 to lie in a tie for fourth on seven-under alongside McArthur, who had a 70 yesterday.

Callum Macaulay, second in this event last year, had one of two holes-in-one on the second day as he shot a 68 to safely make the cut on four-under. Playing with Morrison, the Tulliallan player recorded his ace at the 212-yard ninth with a 4-iron. German Bernd Ritthammer matched the feat at the seventh, also with a 4-iron from 220 yards.

Andrew Coltart (73) also made the cut on two-under, as did Richie Ramsay (71 for one-under), Scott Drummond (73 for par) and Chris Doak, who was on the same mark after a second successive 72.

However, Scott Jamieson (one-over), Paul O'Hara (four-over), Lloyd Saltman (five-over) and Eric Ramsay (eight-over) all missed out. Saltman started his second round with an eagle and two birdies but had left himself with too much ground to make up after a damaging opening 80.

Morrison, who roomed with England cricketer Alastair Cook before choosing golf as a career, eagled the tenth – his first – then birdied five of his next seven to be seven under for the round after just eight holes. "It was a good day. The first hole I drove a 3- iron to about 25 feet and rolled it in for an eagle so that was a nice start to the morning," he said.

"Then the next hole I hit it to about four feet and rolled that in, then the 12th I hit a really good putt for birdie that lipped out, so it was a good start. Every hole seemed like I was hitting it on the green and rolling it in – it wasn't like I was holing monster putts.

"I made double bogey on the fourth when I hit it in the water but I recovered well from that. I felt very much in control. I didn't feel like I was getting ahead of myself. It was a very good day."