Fisher bursts into life to improve his hopes of Ryder Cup spot

England's Ross Fisher erupted into life again with a 61 in Killarney and needed nobody to tell him it could have been an historic 59.

One of Europe's great talents has been somewhat dormant since winning the Volvo World Match Play in Spain last November.

But his bid for the Ryder Cup debut he just missed last time was reignited by a remarkable charge into a three-stroke halfway lead over Italian Francesco Molinari at the 3 Irish Open.

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Six successive birdies for a front-nine 29, then four more in a row from the 11th left Fisher needing just two from the last four to become the European Tour's first player to break 60.

There have been four 59s on the US Tour, the most recent of them by Paul Goydos earlier this month, while Ryo Ishikawa shot 58 in Japan in May and only a few days ago a 17-year-old amateur scored 57 in the Alabama Boys State Junior Championship.

But, like so many before him, Fisher had to settle for the lowest round of his Tour career and not the record.

He missed from six feet at the 15th, only parred the long 16th as well after driving into sand and failed with birdie attempts on the last two.

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"I was standing on the 14th green and it (59) did sort of enter my mind," said the 29-year-old, who could leap from 13th to sixth in the cup standings by winning tomorrow.

"I was quite strong mentally to try and block it out of my mind. I just tried to give myself four chances and I did that, but it wasn't meant to be."

Molinari is another with his sights on a first cap against the Americans at Celtic Manor in October and he is much closer to it than Fisher.

The younger brother of Scottish Open champion Edoardo, another cup contender, stands seventh in the current standings and would be virtually there if he triumphs this weekend.

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He also covered the outward half in 29 before signing for a 66, a closing birdie opening up a two-shot gap on the rest.

"When I started Ross had already finished and I thought 12 under is a big task," said the player also coached by Denis Pugh. "Five under, all in all, is a good round."

It included one shot played left-handed from close to a tree on the 17th – and coincidentally Padraig Harrington did the same from a bush on the same hole as he shot 67 to join, amongst others, Rory McIlroy on seven under.

After a closing 20-footer for birdie 2007 winner Harrington, without a Tour title for almost two years, said: "I putted like I did in my amateur days.

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"It's a lot easier to play the game when you struggle a little bit and recover."

McIlroy, round in 68, has had 14 birdies already, but also seven bogeys.

Darren Clarke's 70 put him six under, the same mark as his fellow Ryder Cup vice-captain Paul McGinley, but their stablemate Ross McGowan's bad run continued. In the ninth and last automatic cup place with a month of the race to go, McGowan missed a fourth successive cut when a 75 dropped him to six over.

As for birthday boys Graeme McDowell and Justin Rose, they both mounted comebacks to finish on level par, which appeared virtually certain to make the cut with nothing to spare.

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Hull's Richard Finch was alongside Rose and McDowell after carding a second round of 72, but it was bad news for Malton's Simon Dyson, missing the cut by two strokes after a disappointing round of 74 left him two over.

As for first-round leader David Howell, he dropped back to three under with a desperately disappointing 75.

SCARCROFT'S Mark Squire (9 handicap) won the Volvo Masters Amateur Tour event at Enville in Staffordshire, moving to ninth in the order of merit and a place in the UK final in Portugal in November.

Squire scored 36 stableford points in both the morning and afternoon rounds to beat 50 other competitors at Enville.

Tseng goes it alone at royal birkdale

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Yani Tseng maintained her overnight lead with a second straight round of 68 at the Ricoh Women's British Open at Royal Birkdale.

Tseng opened with a four-under-par 68 on Thursday to tie for the lead with Australia's Katherine Hull and the 21-year-old returned to the Southport course to add a second round of 68 to finish on eight under at the halfway stage.

The Taiwanese player finished with five birdies and one bogey to go four shots clear of Amy Yang, Cristie Kerr and Brittany Lincicome.

Suzann Pettersen and Yoo Sun-young were a stroke further back, Pettersen hitting a four-under-par 68 and the latter a level-par 72.

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Of the domestic players, Laura Davies was tied for 35th at two over with six holes left while Janice Moodie was equal 56th after finishing with a 76.

Cleckheaton's Georgina Simpson followed up her opening day score of 74 with a 76.