Peter Whiteford gives Paul Lawrie support on day of low scoring in Malaga

PAUL Lawrie stayed in contention and was joined near the top of the leaderboard by fellow Scot Peter Whiteford on the second day of the Andalucian Open.

• Peter Whiteford tees off on the eighth hole during the second round of the Open de Andalucia 2010

Former Open champion Lawrie followed his opening 65 over the Parador course with a 68 that contained five birdies, four of which came on the back nine. That moved him to seven-under, the same as Whiteford after the Fifer had catapulted himself through the field with a six-under-par 64 – one of the best rounds on a day when Gary Orr (four-under), Stephen Gallacher (three-under), David Drysdale and Marc Warren (both one-under) also made it through to the final two rounds.

Whiteford, who tied for sixth in the Joburg Open earlier in the year and has since picked up decent cheques in both India and Morocco, signed for five birdies and an eagle to move within three shots of the lead at the halfway stage. That is being jointly held by South African Louis Oosthuizen, runner-up to Welshman Rhys Davies in Morocco last Sunday, and English rookie professional Sam Hutsby.

A 21-year-old from Hampshire, Hutsby could easily have been preparing for The Masters rather than playing in Spain this week. He reached the final of the British Amateur last June before losing to 16-year-old Italian Matteo Manassero, who in two weeks' time will become the youngest player ever to appear at Augusta.

Hutsby would have had to stay amateur to take up that opportunity if he had won that day, but instead he turned professional after the Walker Cup in September and finished second at the Tour qualifying school only two months later.

Now he goes into the weekend alongside Oosthuizen, who matched his 63 and needs to win tomorrow to have a chance of climbing into the world's top 50 in time for The Masters. The 63s matched the new Parador course record set earlier in the day by fellow Tour rookie James Morrison – his effort contained a mere 19 putts – but less than an hour later Paul Waring, another of the English contingent, lowered the mark by one.

Oosthuizen, four times a runner-up on the circuit without ever winning, even had a double-bogey six in his round, but there was also an eagle and seven birdies. Dane Soren Kjeldsen's hopes of becoming the first player to make a successful defence of a Tour title since Padraig Harrington's 2007 and 2008 Open double are still very much alive. Kjeldsen, who won in Seville last year, lies in third place on his own after adding a 67 to his first-day 65.

There were some spectacular shots as well as spectacular rounds. Scotland's Scott Drummond and England's David Horsey aced the 175-yard sixth, while Spaniard Gabriel Canizares had the first albatross of the Tour season when he holed a 255-yard 3-wood for a two on the 544-yard 12th.

Drummond's second-day 67 was not enough to see him survive the cut on one-over, with Steven O'Hara (69) also missing out on the same mark. Andrew Oldcorn (69), Alastair Forsyth (69) and Richie Ramsay (67) all took a single shot too many as they finished on level-par, with Andrew McArthur (68) and Andrew Coltart (74) also bowing out on three-over-par and four-over-par respectively.