Irish trio fail to make ISPS Handa Championship cut

Gary Hurley, Tom McKibbin and Brendan Lawlor will play no further part in the ISPS Handa Championship in Japan after the trio failed to make the cut.

Hurley's was unable to back up an opening round 67, with a 75 meaning he fell to two-over par, three shots outside the cut.

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McKibbin was a shot further back after a 72, while Lawlor’s 77, on the back of yesterday’s 11-over par 81 meant he finished well down the standings, where Scotland’s Grant Forrest is in a three-way share of the lead with Jazz Janewattananond and Lucas Herbert at the midway point.

Forrest carded nine birdies and a single bogey in his second-round 62, finishing with back-to-back birdies to reach 10 under par.

The highlight of Forrest’s round came at the eighth – his penultimate hole – where he drained an enormous birdie putt, while another gain on the ninth earned the afternoon starter a share of the lead.

Forrest said: "I didn’t realise where I was until the last green and I thought 'oh this is for a 62’. I just plugged away all day.

"I got the putter going. I didn’t really hole any putts yesterday but managed to roll in a few, got one in on the eighth – our 17th – from a long way.

"The weather wasn’t great at home the past month (with no events), but did what we could, just tried to keep playing as much as I could at home and keep everything ticking over.

"I’m looking forward to the weekend. The course is firming up a bit. There have been some tucked pins and I imagine it will stay the same going into the weekend.

"If you hit it well off the tee there are a few chances, but at the same time if you short side yourself on a few of these pins you have no chance of getting it close. I will just try to do more of the same, manage the game and try