Jeff Maggert conjured up a magical four birdies in five holes to retain the lead at the halfway stage of the $1.8 million Honda Classic at TPC Heron Bay yesterday. The current US Ryder Cup player shot a second round 68 for a total of nine under par, one stroke clear of Lee Janzen.

Colin Montgomery, who missed the cut at Doral last week, led the European challenge with a second successive 69. This left him on six under par, three shots behind Maggert in a share of fifth place.

Ireland's Keith Nolan maintained his solid form of Thursday by shooting a second 72 for 144. This left him one stroke inside the cut.

So, Nolan had reason to be pleased at making his second cut in five events since the unfinished Pebble Beach Pro-Am in which he was one-under-par after two rounds. His last cut was at Tucson, where he shot an aggregate of 287 to be tied 65th.

"I realise that I've got to be setting my sights higher than simply making cuts, but I'm happy to be still in the frame," he said last night. "I worked really hard on my game every day last week and it's now beginning to pay off." After finishing here tomorrow, he will be heading to the Bay Hill Invitational next week. But compatriot Richard Coughlan was looking forward to a fortnight's break when he left here last night after failing to make the cut.

Fatigue was evident in every stroke Coughlan made on the way to a wretched 85 on Thursday, and his position had worsened by a further two strokes after nine holes of his second round. He went on to shoot a 75 for a total of 160 - 16 over par.

Arguably the most impressive aspect of Nolan's effort yesterday was the manner of his finish. Having started at the first, he had fluctuating fortune before eventually standing on the 17th tee at level par.

There, he hit a beautiful drive down the middle and was on the green with a seven-iron approach for a two-putt par. And he used the same two clubs to reach the green at the treacherous, 450-yard 18th for a closing par. "Those four strokes were very important and very satisfying," he said.

Early nerves were settled when he reached the green with a seven iron from a fairway bunker at the first to card an opening par. He then birdied the third from 25 feet and was two under par for the tournament when he sank a 10footer for another birdie at the long fourth.

But he immediately hit problems, missing the green at the short fifth for a bogey. He dropped back to level par at the 11th, where he blocked a six-iron approach into a green-side trap and failed to get up and down. After that, a birdie from 15 feet at the long 14th was offset by a bogey at the next where he was in rough off the tee.

Nolan made a useful investment last summer by playing as an amateur in the inaugural Palmer Cup - an inter-varsity match in Florida between college players from either side of the Atlantic. Knowing the great man's involvement in next week's event, he wrote to Palmer requesting an invitation. And he got it.

"I'm really pleased about that," he said. "It gives me a chance of achieving some sort of continuity after missing Doral. At this stage it looks like I'll play between 25 and 28 tournaments in the US this year and I'm hoping to make European appearances in the Irish Open and the European Open. And I'll be trying to qualify for the British Open."

Maggert's only victory on the US Tour was in the 1993 Walt Disney Classic. A measure of his marvellous consistency, however, is that he has since qualified for two Ryder Cup teams and had the distinction of beating Lee Westwood by 3 and 2 at Valderrama.

Starting on the 10th yesterday, he birdied the 12th and bogeyed the 15th to be level par for the round at the turn. But he burst into action on the front nine. Putts of six feet, 18 feet, 45 feet and two feet yielded birdies at the third, fifth, sixth and seventh.