Kinsale's John Murphy produced another terrific round at the at the Acciona Open de Espana to lead the Irish charge on Friday.
Murphy earned a top-10 finish at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship last week and he's brought that good form to Madrid. A second consecutive three-under 68 has him on six-under overall, seven shots off leader Wil Besseling who carded a 65 on Friday.
World number one Jon Rahm will head into the weekend just one shot off the lead as he looks for a third consecutive victory in his home championship.
The US Open champion made a spectacular closing birdie to sign for a 67 and move to 12-under, one shot behind Dutchman Besseling.
Rahm is chasing history on two fronts this week as he looks to join Seve Ballesteros as a three-time winner of this event and sit alongside Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam and Colin Montgomerie as players to win the same regular European Tour event three editions in a row.
Jonathan Caldwell and Cormac Sharvin both failed to make the cut. Caldwell had a good round today, shooting 68, but the damage was done on Thursday when hit 73 left him two-over. He finished on one-under overallm four shots better off than Sharvin who followed his opening 75 with a 70.
