Hoey in the mix despite "silly mistakes"

Michael Hoey is in contention in Moscow. icture: Thos Caffrey / www.golffile.ieMichael Hoey insists he must cut out his “silly mistakes” if he’s to capture the M2M Russian Open and his fifth European Tour title.

The Belfast man, 34, had eight birdies in a second round 67 to grab a share of second place, just two strokes behind Sweden’s Rikard Karlberg at Tseleevo Golf & Polo Club near Moscow.

But after making six bogeys and a double bogey in two rounds, he knows he can’t afford to fritter shots away.

“It’s been a bit up and down to be honest,” Hoey said. “The good stuff is really good but then I am making quite a lot of silly mistakes which is costing me a lot of shots. You just need to look at the scores: I have made 15 birdies in the first two rounds here and I am only seven under.

“So I really need to stop making silly errors because you can’t do that for four days at this level and expect to win a golf tournament. It’s not possible.

“They are just silly errors that creep in now and then. You just shouldn’t be flying the ball over greens with a wedge in your hand for example, that was probably the most frustrating one today.

“It’s not the putting. In fact, the putting has improved since I put a new putter in the bag last week. I am putting quite well with it compared to how I was a few weeks ago.

“But I need to look at the positives – I am on that leaderboard and in a good position for the weekend. If I can get rid of those silly mistakes then I still have a great chance to win.”

Karlberg carded a four under par 68 in tricky, swirling winds to give himself a two shot lead over Hoey, England’s Matthew Baldwin, France’s Alexandre Kaleka and China’s Liang Wen-chong  going into the weekend.

Waterville’s David Higgins is tied for 19th, seven shots off the lead after a second successive 71 while Galgorm Castle’s Gareth Shaw, seeking more cash towards his European Tour card push, scraped in on the four over par cut mark after making just one birdie against four bogeys and a double bogey in a 77.

The rest of the Irish missed the cut with Damien McGrane’s opening 80 proving to be too much of a handicap as he posted a level par 72.

Former Amateur champion alan Dunbar also had a tough day, missing out by six shots after a 79.

Complete Second Round Scores:

135 R Karlberg  (Swe) 67 68,

137 L Wen-Chong (Chn) 67 70, A Kaleka  (Fra) 70 67, M Hoey  (Nir) 70 67, M Baldwin (Eng) 68 69,

138 M Foster (Eng) 69 69,

139 J Morrison  (Eng) 68 71, M Nixon (Eng) 69 70, M Korhonen (Fin) 69 70, S Hend (Aus) 70 69,

140 J Kingston (RSA) 71 69,

141 S Wakefield (Eng) 73 68, S Dyson  (Eng) 67 74, A Tadini (Ita) 68 73, J Gonnet  (Fra) 70 71, J Roos (RSA) 70 71, A Hartø  (Den) 70 71, S Little (Eng) 69 72,

142 J Singh (Ind) 71 71, T Pilkadaris (Aus) 71 71, J Elson  (Eng) 71 71, M Lafeber (Ned) 69 73, G Havret  (Fra) 72 70, G Lockerbie  (Eng) 72 70, D Gaunt (Aus) 70 72, D Horsey (Eng) 70 72, J Hansen  (Den) 72 70, D Higgins (Irl) 71 71,

143 M Delpodio  (Ita) 69 74, M Campbell (Nzl) 70 73, M Carlsson  (Swe) 71 72, J Campillo (Esp) 72 71, C Paisley  (Eng) 72 71, A Snobeck  (Fra) 70 73, M Tullo (Chi) 74 69, J Singh Brar (am) (Eng) 77 66,

144 S Hansen (Den) 77 67, C Lloyd (Eng) 71 73, R Wattel  (Fra) 72 72, S Chowrasia (Ind) 72 72, M Wiegele  (Aut) 72 72, A Levy (Fra) 72 72, T Van Der Walt (RSA) 73 71,

145 J Maurer  (Aut) 71 74, P Meesawat  (Tha) 71 74, O Bekker (RSA) 74 71, T Lewis (Eng) 71 74, R McEvoy  (Eng) 74 71, O Floren  (Swe) 76 69,

146 S Henry  (Sco) 73 73, S Garcia (Esp) 75 71, N Floren (Swe) 71 75,

147 R Finch  (Eng) 73 74, G Bhullar (Ind) 74 73, H Porteous (RSA) 71 76, P Hedblom (Swe) 73 74, M Southgate  (Eng) 73 74, E Kofstad (Nor) 74 73, J Sjöholm (Swe) 78 69, J Colomo  (Esp) 68 79, A Forsyth (Sco) 74 73, P Martin Benavides (Esp) 70 77,

148 A Lahiri (Ind) 78 70, J Lagergren (Swe) 74 74, C Macaulay  (Sco) 72 76, G Shaw (Nir) 71 77, D Brooks (Eng) 77 71, T Fleetwood  (Eng) 72 76,

CUT

149 M Lundberg (Swe) 75 74, R Rock (Eng) 71 78, A Marshall (Eng) 76 73, J Fernandez-Valdes (Arg) 71 78, S Kjeldsen (Den) 75 74, P Price (Wal) 73 76, B Åkesson (Swe) 73 76,

150 K Eriksson (Swe) 77 73, L Jensen (Den) 76 74, J Doherty  (Sco) 79 71, R Bland (Eng) 76 74,

151 J Walters (RSA) 75 76, J Sandelin (Swe) 77 74, V Belov (am) (Rus) 79 72,

152 C Suneson (Esp) 74 78, S Kapur (Ind) 76 76, A Pavlov (Rus) 80 72, D McGrane (Irl) 80 72, M Lampert (Ger) 79 73, C Doak (Sco) 73 79,

153 M Madsen  (Den) 75 78, P Gustafsson (Swe) 80 73, L Claverie (Esp) 76 77, A Bruschi  (Ita) 77 76,

154 C Lee (Sco) 76 78, A Dunbar (Nir) 75 79, M Nichols (Eng) 75 79,

155 P Gal  (Cze) 78 77, K Lifanov (Rus) 79 76,

156 P Erofejeff (Fin) 76 80, V Osipov (am) (Rus) 78 78, A Kleszcz (am) (Aut) 78 78,

158 C Del Moral (Esp) 78 80,

159 M Martinez (Ven) 77 82,

162 P Goryainov (am) (Rus) 78 84, R De Heer (am) (Sui) 80 82,

163 Y Kafelnikov (Rus) 81 82,

165 M Morozov (am) (Rus) 82 83,

169 N Ponomarev (am) (Rus) 86 83,

176 J Ferraby (Eng) 89 87,