Former Ryder Cup player Andy Sullivan credited a renewed sense of focus after claiming a share of the halfway lead in the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
Sullivan carded a second consecutive 66 at Education City Golf Club in Doha to reach 10 under par, a feat matched late in the day by Spain’s Jorge Campillo.
England’s Oliver Fisher, who carded the first 59 in European Tour history in 2018, is a shot off the pace alongside France’s Romain Langasque, Holland’s Joost Luiten and the Swedish pair of Alexander Bjork and Marcus Kinhult.
Cormac Sharvin is the sole member of the Irish contingent to make it into the weekend, after he posted a of 69 on Friday. He made six birdies and dropped four strokes in a rollercoaster second round, but his two under par effort saw him make it inside the level par cut mark by two strokes.
However Jonathan Caldwell missed the cut by a stroke after also shooting a 69 on Friday, while amateur Michael Young finished on 12 over par after following his opening 78 with a second round of 76.
Meanwhile Sullivan, who won three times in 2015 to book a Ryder Cup debut the following year, said: “I’ve got it under lock at the moment. I feel like I am in control of myself, which is the most important thing for me.
“I really felt like I took my time a little bit more on shots and stuff. When I have been doing well before I generally rush the shot, maybe try to hit it a bit quickly, so I have been trying to take my time a little bit more and be a bit more composed over the shot.
“I feel like I have grown up a little bit now on the golf course. I think that having a laugh on the golf course is all well and good and I still enjoy it, but for me I have really had to knuckle down the past two days to keep myself in check because there are times when I find myself wandering.
“It has been difficult, and it is something new for me, trying to keep focused for so long, normally I drift in and out a little bit, but it’s been really good and positive signs as the golf has been really good.”
Sullivan turned professional in 2011 after helping Great Britain and Ireland win the Walker Cup and his Royal Aberdeen partner Jack Senior also finds himself in contention in Doha.
Senior is three shots off the pace following a second round of 66 and is targeting a breakthrough European Tour win nine years after famously beating Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth on his way to the semi-finals of the US Amateur Championship at Erin Hills.
“Everybody goes back to that moment,” Senior said. “That’s what I’m known for and I obviously I want to be known for doing bigger and better things now and hopefully if I keep moving in the right direction I can do that.”
Collated second round scores & totals in the European Tour, the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, Doha GC, Qatar (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71):
(a) denotes amateurs
132 Andy Sullivan 66 66, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 66 66
133 Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 68 65, Joost Luiten (Ned) 65 68, Alexander Bjork (Swe) 70 63, Romain Langasque (Fra) 69 64, Oliver Fisher 69 64
135 Jeff Winther (Den) 66 69, Benjamin Poke (Den) 68 67, Nicolai Hojgaard (Den) 64 71, Jack Senior 69 66, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 67 68, Scott Jamieson 67 68
136 S.S.P Chawrasia (Ind) 67 69, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 69 67, David Drysdale 67 69, Dave Coupland 68 68, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 66 70, Lars Van Meijel (Ned) 70 66, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 66 70
137 Justin Harding (Rsa) 70 67, Kalle Samooja (Fin) 70 67, Matthew Jordan 70 67, Niklas Lemke (Swe) 68 69, Carlos Pigem (Spa) 66 71, Kyong-jun Moon (Kor) 67 70, Fabrizio Zanotti (Pry) 69 68, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 67 70
138 Marcus Armitage 67 71, Clement Sordet (Fra) 72 66, David Horsey 69 69, George Coetzee (Rsa) 70 68, Antoine Rozner (Fra) 69 69, Jordan Smith 69 69, Thomas Detry (Bel) 72 66, Wilco Nienaber (Rsa) 68 70, Oliver Farr 74 64
139 Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 70 69, Brandon Stone (Rsa) 71 68, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 70 69, Chris Paisley 69 70, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 72 67, Yassine Touhami (Mor) 68 71, Adrien Saddier (Fra) 69 70, Jeunghun Wang (Kor) 70 69, Gavin Green (Mal) 70 69, Gregory Havret (Fra) 68 71
140 Cormac Sharvin 71 69, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 69 71, Sebastian Heisele (Ger) 68 72, Toby Tree 71 69, Renato Paratore (Ita) 69 71, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 70 70, Tae Hee Lee (Kor) 70 70, Stephen Gallacher 72 68, Sebastian Soderberg (Swe) 74 66, Robert Macintyre 68 72, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 71 69, Brandon Robinson Thompson 72 68
141 Sihwan Kim (Kor) 72 69, Steven Brown 71 70, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 69, Ross Fisher 68 73, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 70 71, Jason Scrivener (Aus) 70 71, Robert Rock 72 69, Laurie Canter 72 69, Sami Valimaki (Fin) 70 71, Sean Crocker (USA) 71 70, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 76 65, Richie Ramsay 70 71, Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 73 68, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 72 69, James Morrison 73 68, Hennie Du Plessis (Rsa) 72 69, Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 70 71, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 72 69
The following players did not make the cut:
142 Marcel Siem (Ger) 68 74, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 71 71, Aaron Rai 71 71, Peter Hanson (Swe) 71 71, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 71 71, Maverick Antcliff (Aus) 70 72, Sam Horsfield 74 68, Jake McLeod (Aus) 70 72, Connor Syme 72 70, Johannes Veerman (USA) 71 71, Rasmus Hojgaard (Den) 70 72, Alexander Levy (Fra) 70 72
143 Adri Arnaus (Spa) 72 71, David Law 70 73, Mike Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 69 74, Adrian Meronk (Pol) 74 69, Oliver Wilson 72 71, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 73 70, Jonathan Caldwell 74 69, Nacho Elvira (Spa) 74 69, Min Woo Lee (Aus) 72 71
144 Garrick Porteous 73 71, Richard McEvoy 72 72, Jack Singh Brar 73 71, Guido Migliozzi (Ita) 71 73, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 69 75, Aaron Cockerill (Can) 72 72, Bradley Dredge 74 70, Jens Dantorp (Swe) 72 72
145 Mathiam Keyser (Rus) 73 72, Andrea Pavan (Ita) 74 71, Justin Walters (Rsa) 71 74, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 74 71, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 75 70, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 71 74, Graeme Storm 71 74, Jin-ho Choi (Kor) 70 75
146 Robin Roussel (Fra) 75 71, Darius Van Driel (Ned) 73 73, Jamie Donaldson 73 73, Ricardo Santos (Por) 73 73
147 Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 73 74, Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez (Spa) 74 73, Paul Lawrie 76 71, Ashun Wu (Chn) 73 74, Shergo Al Kurdi (a) (Jor) 73 74, Ashley Chesters 74 73, Robin Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 74 73
149 Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 71 78, Hugo Leon (Chi) 73 76, Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 71 78, Dale Whitnell 75 74, Grant Forrest 73 76
150 Calum Hill 80 70, Matthew Southgate 74 76, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 76 74, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 75 75
151 Haotong Li (Chn) 72 79
152 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 75 77, Ali Saleh Alb Kaabi (a) (Qat) 79 73
154 Michael Young (a) 78 76
166 Ali Alb Shahrani (a) (Qat) 80 86
