Red-hot rookie Ruaidhri McGee finished with an eagle three to move to within a shot of the lead at the halfway stage of the Kärnten Golf Open in Austria.

The 23-year old Rosapenna star was three under for the day with three holes to play at Golfclub Schloss Finkenstein near Villach.

And he finished strongly, picking up a birdie at the seventh before making an eagle at the ninth for a six under 65 that left him in a seven-man tie for third place with Gareth Shaw just a shot further back after a sizzling finish gave him a 66.

Frenchman Jérôme Lando Casanova (67) and England's Andrew Johnston (65) lead on 10 under par from McGee, Daniel Vancsik (66), Dave Coupland (66), Scott Arnold (67), Paul Maddy (68), home favourite HP Bacher (67) and Dane Jeppe Huldahl (60) who almost registered the second 59 in Challenge Tour history.

Huldahl jumped a staggering 113 places up the leaderboard in round two thanks to his stunning 11 under par round of 60. The 2009 Celtic Manor Wales Open winner came so close to following in the footsteps of Adrian Mörk, who remains the only Challenge Tour player to have shot a 59, at the 2006 Tikida Hotels Agadir Moroccan Classic.

“I’m not sure I’ll ever get a better chance than that to shoot 59,” said the 31 year old from Copenhagen. “And of all things, it was a three putt that cost me! I’m still very happy with the score though, but in a way I’m a little disappointed.”

“I certainly wasn’t expecting today’s round at all though. Standing here last night on the range I couldn’t seem to find it, which is so weird as I played really well last week, but it was gone. Then this morning I didn’t have the best warm-up, but something seemed to click out there.

“Tomorrow is always going to be tough after a round like that. I’ve tried playing after a low round a few times before, so hopefully I’ve learned from that. I will just need to forget about today, as it is no use to me tomorrow.”

Shaw was one over par for his round after seven holes but birdied the eighth and then stormed home in 30 to move up 21 spots to tied 10th on eight under, just two shots off the lead.
The cut fell at four under, which meant a short week for Niall Kearney and Birr's Stephen Grant, who followed his 76 with an encouraging 68.

Kearney had just one birdie in a 73 to miss out by four shots on level par.

Scores after round two:

132 A Johnston (Eng) 67 65, J Lando Casanova (Fra) 65 67,

133 P Maddy (Eng) 65 68, D Coupland (Eng) 67 66, D Vancsik (Arg) 67 66, J Huldahl (Den) 73 60, S Arnold (Aus) 66 67, H Bacher (Aut) 66 67, R McGee (Irl) 68 65,

134 T Murray (Eng) 64 70, J Barnes (Eng) 67 67, B Virto (Esp) 68 66, J Garcia Del Moral (Esp) 69 65, R Enoch (Wal) 71 63, F Fritsch (Ger) 65 69, E Espana (Fra) 67 67, G Shaw (Nir) 68 66, S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) 67 67,

135 W Besseling (Ned) 71 64, F Bergamaschi (Ita) 69 66, M Glauert (Ger) 71 64, D Frittelli (RSA) 70 65, C Lloyd (Eng) 68 67, L Gagli (Ita) 69 66, A Bernadet (Fra) 65 70, M Lampert (Ger) 69 66,

136 B An (Kor) 67 69, A Engell (Nor) 69 67, C Bouniol (Fra) 69 67, G Woolgar (Eng) 66 70, J Roos (RSA) 67 69, L Jensen (Den) 71 65, J Fahrbring (Swe) 67 69, G Lockerbie (Eng) 67 69, S Hutsby (Eng) 72 64, C Russo (Fra) 69 67,

137 M Trappel (Aut) 69 68, S Henry (Sco) 70 67, J Robinson (Eng) 66 71, O Stark (Swe) 70 67, D Geminiani (Ita) 69 68, S Tiley (Eng) 72 65, W Booth (Sco) 69 68, L Goddard (Eng) 71 66, J Lara (Esp) 68 69, O Wilson (Eng) 69 68, D Law (Sco) 66 71, D Stewart (Sco) 67 70,

138 L Corfield (Eng) 66 72, D Gaunt (Eng) 68 70, G Main (USA) 69 69, M Orrin (Eng) 64 74, L Nemecz (Aut) 67 71, J Winther (Den) 67 71, C Mivis (Bel) 69 69, R Steiner (Aut) 67 71, B Åkesson (Swe) 73 65, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 68 70, B Hebert (Fra) 70 68, O Floren (Swe) 70 68, N Quintarelli (Ita) 71 67, M Haastrup (Den) 71 67, M Tullo (Chi) 71 67, M Novy (Cze) 72 66, B Evans (Eng) 71 67.

CUT

139 K Samooja (Fin) 73 66, M Lafeber (Ned) 71 68, J Mikkelsen (Nor) 69 70, C Aguilar (Esp) 71 68, C Hanson (Eng) 73 66, P Widegren (Swe) 64 75, M Wiegele (Aut) 69 70, J Gonnet (Fra) 66 73, R McEvoy (Eng) 70 69, A Tadini (Ita) 71 68, J Legarrea (Esp) 72 67, T Lee (USA) 70 69, G Pinto (Por) 69 70, D Kemmer (USA) 69 70, P Oriol (Esp) 71 68,

140 F Praegant (Aut) 67 73, C Brazillier (Fra) 72 68, S Little (Eng) 71 69, J Rask (Swe) 68 72, R Coles (Eng) 72 68, P McKechnie (Sco) 73 67, N Kimsey (Eng) 70 70, M Dobias (Sui) 70 70,

141 J Maurer (Aut) 73 68, Z Scotland (Eng) 72 69, G Porteous (Eng) 72 69, J Palmer (Eng) 72 69, H Joannes (Bel) 69 72, E Johansen (Nor) 72 69, T Linard (Fra) 72 69, D Ulrich (Sui) 70 71, N Raymond (Eng) 72 69, G Cambis (Fra) 70 71, N Ravano (Ita) 71 70, C Paisley (Eng) 69 72, P Relecom (Bel) 73 68,

142 A Korinek (Cze) 67 75, N Kearney (Irl) 69 73, K Benz (Sui) 75 67, T Pulkkanen (Fin) 74 68, A Snobeck (Fra) 72 70, J Howarth (Eng) 70 72, F Colombo (Ita) 71 71, W Huang (Chn) 75 67, R Davies (Wal) 75 67,

143 B Chapellan (Fra) 71 72, J Kennegard (Swe) 77 66, M Rominger (Sui) 70 73, H Sayin (Tur) 71 72, X Ruiz Fonhof (Ned) 72 71, G Watremez (Bel) 74 69,

144 M Southgate (Eng) 72 72, N Johansson (Swe) 73 71, P Dwyer (Eng) 71 73, J Lagergren (Swe) 71 73, J Elson (Eng) 72 72, C Ford (Eng) 75 69, F Becker (Ger) 76 68, T Sluiter (Ned) 73 71, S Grant (Irl) 76 68, J Bragulat (Esp) 71 73,

145 N Meitinger (Ger) 74 71, B Parker (Eng) 70 75, E Bertheussen (Nor) 72 73, P Oswald (am) (Aut) 72 73,

146 A Haindl (RSA) 74 72, F Mruzek (Cze) 75 71, M Haines (Eng) 74 72, S Matus (Cze) 76 70,

147 N Thommen (Sui) 73 74, F Svanberg (Sui) 71 76, D Perrier (Fra) 74 73, B Ritthammer (Ger) 76 71, A Björk (Swe) 74 73,

148 M Stewart (Sco) 78 70, A Rota (Ita) 71 77, C Fisher (am) (Aut) 71 77,

149 R Hahn (Hun) 76 73, R Gruber (Aut) 72 77, S Piaget (Mon) 78 71, D Moretti (am) (Aut) 74 75,

150 U Weinhandl (Aut) 79 71, R Kind (Ned) 76 74, J Sjöholm (Swe) 76 74,

152 A Perrino (Ita) 77 75,

153 P Hermann (am) (Aut) 74 79,

155 O Spur (Cze) 76 79,

156 J Gallegos (Esp) 76 80,

157 B Guerrero (Esp) 79 78,

174 T Brennacher (am) (Aut) 88 86,

 ** M Hensby (Aus) DQ 0,