European Tour — Peter Lawrie has a golden opportunity to regain his European Tour card after a five under 67 left him just four shots off the lead in the 72° OPEN D'ITALIA presented by DAMIANI.

Needing a €25,000 cheque to move into the Top 110 in the Race to Dubai who earn full privileges for 2016 at the end of the season, the Dubliner is on nine under par.

Jens Fahrbring of Sweden and the Dane Lucas Bjerregaard share the halfway lead with Martin Kaymer, Nicolas Colsaerts, Danny Willett, Miguel Angel Jiménez and Bernd Wiesberger among the big names within striking distance.

Fahrbring and Bjerregaard set the pace of 13 under par after respective second round scores of 64 and 65, with last year’s US Open Champion Kaymer carding a 66 to move to ten under, joining Weisberger, Rikard Karlberg, Craig Lee, David Lipsky and leading Italian Andrea Perrino in a tie for seventh place.

Paul McGinley (72), Padraig Harrington (70) and Darren Clarke (70) made the cut on the mark (140) as the rest fo the Irish, including recent Walker Cup star Gavin Moynihan, missed out. 

Simon Thornton (73 70) missed by three on 143 with Kevin Phelan (73 72) on 145, Damien McGrane (72 74) 146 and Moynihan (73 76) 149.

Day closes in on world No 1 ranking in Chicago

PGA Tour — Jason Day moved closer to claiming the world number one spot by opening up a five-shot lead after the second round of the BMW Championships in Chicago.

The Australian added a 63 to his opening 61 for a 36-hole total of 124 that tied the all-time PGA Tour record.

Day, at 18 under par, is well ahead of Americans Daniel Berger and Brendon Todd who are tied for second.

Jordan Spieth is seven shots behind after a five-under 66, while Rory McIlroy (65) is nine strokes back.

Tiger out until 2016 after back surgery

Tiger Woods — Former world number one Tiger Woods will not play again this year after having back surgery for the second time in 18 months.

The 39-year-old American, winner of 14 majors, had an operation on Wednesday and is hoping to return to playing in early 2016.

"This is certainly disappointing, but I'm a fighter," Woods said in a statement  on his website. "I've been told I can make a full recovery, and I have no doubt I will."

Woods, who has had a small disc fragment pinching his nerve removed, will miss the Frys.com Open, Bridgestone America's Golf Cup and the Hero World Challenge.

He missed the cut at three of the four majors this year, although he tied for 10th in his most recent tournament, the Wyndham Championship.

Ranked 283 in the world, Woods has not won a major since the 2008 US Open and has struggled with form and injury in recent years.

He missed three months of last season after surgery on a pinched nerve in his back in March 2014.

The statement added that Woods had felt "some occasional discomfort in the back and hip area in the last several weeks".

"I appreciate the fans' concern and support," he said. "This is unfortunate, but these things happen. I've been injured before and played again. It won't be any different this time."

Power slips back at River Run

Web,com Tour — Seamus Power's hopes of making a big move towards earning his PGA Tour card suffered a blow in the second round of the Small Business Connection Championship at River Run.

A two over 74 dropped the West Waterford man 376 spots to tied 55th on one under par at River Run Country Club in North Carolina, 12 strokes behind leader Brett Stegmaier.

With 25 PGA Tour cards up for grabs following the four-event Final Series, Power was projected to rise to from 36th to 30th in the rankings after his first round 69. But he is now projected to fall to 57th unless he can produce some fireworks over the next two days and climb the leaderboard.

The West Waterford man still has two more playoff events to win his dream ticket to the PGA Tour for 2016.

Shock - Boys beaten by Portugal

European Boys Golf — There was shock in European golf circles on Friday as Ireland lost 4.5 0 2.5 to Portugal — a team the outscored by 41 shots in qualifying — and failed to regain Division 1 status in Boys golf for 2016.

They will remain in Division 2 despite having enjoyed a team featuring some of the best young talent on the continent.

Relegated last year, this year's side of Jack Leglise player Thomas Mulligan, Marc Boucher, Devin Morley, Kevin LeBlanc, Conor Purcell and Peter Kerr was expected to earn promotion in the European Boys Division 2 Team Championship at Mladá Boleslav in the Czech Republic

But after winning the strokeplay qualifying by 22 shots from Slovenia, they lost to Portugal in matchplay - the team that had beaten by a massive 41 shots in qualifying.

Matchplay result

Ireland lost both foursomes with Mulligan left out and Purcell partnering Kerr and Morley rather than his natural pairing of Boucher, partnering LeBlanc.

Explanations have not yet been forthcoming and Ireland can only hope that plans to move away from a 16 team European Boys Team Championship and return to 24 teams will bear fruit.