England’s James Morrison booked his place in the next stage of the weather-affected Cyprus Showdown with a superb 63 at Aphrodite Hills.
Morrison had his sights on the second 59 in European Tour history after covering his first 10 holes in eight under par, but could only cover the remaining eight in level par to finish 11 under alongside American Johannes Veerman.
Former Ryder Cup winner Jamie Donaldson was 12 under par with three holes remaining when play was suspended in the fading light following an earlier 97-minute delay due to the threat of thunderstorms.
Under the tournament’s unique format, the top 32 players and ties after the second round is complete will advance to round three with their scores reset.
The top 16 and ties after another 18 holes of stroke play then advance to round four, again with their scores reset, with whoever shoots the lowest score on Sunday claiming the €200,000 first prize.
With some players through only 11 holes of their second rounds the cut mark was projected at six under par – the mark Northern Ireland’s Jonny Caldwell was on after a second round of 64 thanks to seven birdies and no bogeys.
However, Cormac Sharvin will not be around for the final two rounds after his second consecutive round of 69 left him at four under par.
Morrison, whose 63 equalled the course record set by Cyprus Open winner Callum Shinkwin last week, said: “I was definitely thinking about 59.
“I always try and go as low as I can go and I putted lovely. I played really well last week and finished 28th and didn’t putt very well. The putting is never far away and today it felt like they were going in from everywhere.
“It was a bit of a funny dynamic because things start from zero tomorrow; you then find yourself wafting it around on the last few holes thinking you’ve made it to the weekend.
“My whole career I’ve always been great around the greens and off the tee but my iron play has been terrible. We always said the minute I can gain in approach play with my irons I can do okay.
“I finished second in approach last week and I’m doing better this week, so Rocky (his coach Robert Rock) has really helped me. It’s only been two weeks but the things we have going are really working.”
England’s David Horsey also safely advanced to round three after adding a 65 to his opening 67 and knows more low scoring will be required over the weekend.
“It’s going to be different because there’s no pressure of being in the lead with it resetting tomorrow and again on Sunday,” Horsey said. “In a way it allows people to be a little more free-wheelie. You know you have to shoot low scores.
“Tomorrow you could probably get through with something solid but on Sunday you need to shoot seven or eight under to win the tournament.”
Latest second round scores & totals in the European Tour Cyprus Showdown, Aphrodite Hills Resort, Paphos, Cyprus (British unless stated, par 71):
Play suspended for the day due to darkness
131 Johannes Veerman (USA) 67 64, James Morrison 68 63
132 Steven Brown 68 64, Joost Luiten (Ned) 67 65, David Horsey 67 65, Romain Langasque (Fra) 66 66
133 Robert Macintyre 65 68, Louis De Jager (Rsa) 68 65, Nacho Elvira (Spa) 68 65, Alexander Levy (Fra) 67 66
134 Alexander Bjork (Swe) 68 66, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 67 67
135 Ashun Wu (Chn) 66 69, Bernd Ritthammer (Ger) 70 65
136 Richard Bland 69 67, Matthew Jordan 68 68, Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez (Spa) 67 69, Niklas Lemke (Swe) 70 66, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 68 68, Joel Sjoholm (Swe) 68 68, Gavin Green (Mal) 70 66, Jonathan Caldwell (NIrl) 72 64
137 Ross Fisher 70 67, Jack Floydd 70 67, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 70 67, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 70 67, Sebastian Heisele (Ger) 70 67, Daan Huizing (Ned) 68 69, Ross McGowan 69 68
138 Cormac Sharvin (NIrl) 69 69, Haotong Li (Chn) 71 67, Maverick Antcliff (Aus) 70 68, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 71 67, Connor Syme 70 68, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 66 72, Scott Vincent (Zim) 70 68
139 Richie Ramsay 71 68, David Howell 71 68, Matthew Southgate 71 68, David Drysdale 70 69, Calum Hill 71 68, Jack Senior 71 68, Ricardo Santos (Por) 71 68, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 68 71, Oliver Farr 69 70, Ewan Ferguson 70 69,
140 S.S.P Chawrasia (Ind) 73 67, Clement Sordet (Fra) 70 70, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 72 68, Francesco Laporta (Ita) 70 70, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 71 69, Lars Van Meijel (Ned) 69 71, Mitch Waite 75 65, Julian Suri (USA) 71 69, Ben Stow 70 70, Wilco Nienaber (Rsa) 70 70
141 Robin Roussel (Fra) 72 69, Carlos Pigem (Spa) 70 71
142 Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 70 72, Oliver Wilson 69 73, Garrick Porteous 70 72, Robin Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 72 70, Jeff Winther (Den) 71 71, Aaron Cockerill (Can) 69 73, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 71 71, Gregory Havret (Fra) 72 70
143 Yi-Keun Chang (Kor) 74 69, Dale Whitnell 71 72, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 71 72, Grant Forrest 68 75, Oliver Fisher 71 72
144 Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 75 69, Chris Wood 77 67, Jacob Oakley 75 69
145 Michael Campbell (Nzl) 71 74, Paul Waring 73 72, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 72 73
149 Dave Coupland 75 74
150 Sebastian Soderberg (Swe) 78 72
