Paul Dunne is best of the Irish at the Open de France in Paris where Sweden’s Marcus Kinhult leads the field by two shots at the halfway stage.
Wicklow native Dunne shot a round of 67 as he picked up five birdies with just one bogey.
He is tied for ninth place.
Graeme McDowell, the 2013 and 2014 winner, dropped down the leaderboard with six over par round of 77, which included a quadruple bogey at the last.
That left the Antrim man, who was just one shot off the lead after round one, one shot inside the cutline of four over, the same as Offaly’s Shane Lowry, who added a 75 to yesterday’s 70.
Kinhult produced a brilliant performance to open up a two-shot lead heading into day three.
Le Golf National will play host to the Ryder Cup in September and windy conditions and punishing rough meant that a field containing world number two Justin Thomas and world number five Jon Rahm were handed a tough test over the first two days.
Never great making a ⛄️ at the last!!! This course here at the @hnaopendefrance is so good. Play good and you are rewarded. Start missing fairways and you will be found out. Low weekend required.
— Graeme McDowell (@Graeme_McDowell) June 29, 2018
Thomas and Rahm produced back-to-back under par rounds to ensure they were well in contention heading into the weekend but it was Kinhult who stole the show, carding a 65 to get to six under and lead the way by two shots from England's Chris Wood.
The 21-year-old Swede produced a flawless front nine, adding an eagle on the par five third to birdies on the second, fourth, seventh and ninth as he turned in 30. He made bogeys on the 13th and 17th but each time bounced back with a gain to keep his nose in front
"It feels good, it feels really good," he told www.europeantour.com.
"I got off to a great start and played well from there. The wind picked up a little bit on the back nine, the last four or five holes or so, but happy overall.
"Saturday is going to be a big day and hopefully Sunday as well. It's a position I have never been in before so we'll see."
Wood is attempting to make his second consecutive European Ryder Cup team and some course form will do his chances no harm, as he recovered from bogeys on the 10th and 11th with birdies on the 14th, 15th, 18th, second and ninth.
Rahm carded a 69 to sit at three under alongside Welshman Bradley Dredge, a shot clear of Thomas, Englishman Matthew Fitzpatrick, local favourite Gregory Havret and American Julian Suri.
English pair Tyrrell Hatton and Jordan Smith, Dunne and Scot Russell Knox were five shots off the lead.
