John Murphy stays in the hunt at Handa World Invitational

A second-round 69 means John Murphy sits at four-under-par at the halfway point of the ISPS Handa World Invitational, five shots adrift of Scotland's Ewen Ferguson.

Five birdies and four bogeys saw the Corkman move up the leaderboard, with David Carey and Paul Dunne the next best-placed Irishmen on level par, a shot better off than Gary Hurley after his round of 71.

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Halfway leader Ferguson carded a course-record 61 on Thursday at Galgorm Castle, one of two courses used for the event which sees men's and women's tournaments taking place simultaneously.

But the 26-year-old could only add a second round of 70 at Massereene Golf Club on Friday to remain nine-under-par, a shot ahead of Spain's Borja Virto.

Italy’s Felipo Celli, who won the silver medal as leading amateur in the 150th Open at St Andrews last month, was a stroke further back on seven under, alongside Sweden’s Felix Palson.

"I’m still playing nicely but had a few more bad breaks today and missed a couple of the putts that I’ve kind of been making yesterday to keep my round going," Ferguson said.

"(They were) good putts, but just kind of lipping out and yesterday they were kind of lipping in. You walk onto the next tee when they lip in, you feel amazing. When you walk on the next tee and they lip out you feel a bit flatter."

The £2.5m purse will be split evenly in an event which was elevated to DP World Tour status following a successful inaugural edition on the Challenge Tour in 2019, when home favourite Stephanie Meadow won the women’s tournament and Jack Senior claimed the men’s title.

In the women’s event, Leona Maguire kept herself in the mix with a three-under-par 69 that left her three shots off the clubhouse leader.

The Cavan 27-year-old carded an