KILLARNEY, July 29, 2011 (AFP) - Germany's Marcel Siem replaced India's Jeev Milkha Singh at the top of the leaderboard at the Irish Open after a superb finish to his second round on Friday.
Siem eagled the long 16th to join Singh and Denmark's Soren Hansen in first place and then birdied the next hole to move into sole possession of the lead.
He finished with his second successive round of 66, one shot in front of Singh and Hansen and a further shot ahead of Spain's former Ryder Cup player Ignacio Garrido, who finished with three birdies for a 65.
Singh matched the lowest round of his career in the first round on Thursday with an eight under par 63.
The 39-year-old son of a former Olympic sprinter hit an eagle and six birdies on Thursday, but found it harder to continue that inspired form 24 hours later and carded a one under par round of 70.
Singh quickly set the tone for an erratic round as he bogeyed the first hole and the 418 yard fourth, but found enough composure to birdie the second, with a fine putt from eight feet, and also the seventh and the short tenth.
"It was a bit more of a struggle, so I'm happy with one under," Singh said.
"I didn't drive it that well and my putting was not as good, but it was still good enough."
Meanwhile, England Simon Wakefield came on strong late in his round and birdied the 16th and 17th to reach seven under, which was enough to finish the day level in fifth place with Raphael Jacquelin of France.
Defending champion Ross Fisher and fellow Englishmen Simon Dyson and Simon Wakefield are among those on seven under and promising Irish amateur Paul Cutler stands six under after a 67.
Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington both missed the cut, leaving Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell to fill the void for the Irish crowds.
McIlroy grabbed three late birdies for a second round 68, while fellow Northern Irishman McDowell, the 22-year-old's predecessor as US Open champion, went two better than that to put both of them on four under par at halfway.
In his first start since his dream British Open victory at Sandwich, 42-year-old Clarke dropped four shots in the last eight holes for a 74 and one over aggregate.
"A weekend off is not what I wanted coming here. It will not do me any harm, but I'd much prefer to be playing," Clarke said.
"It's more mental fatigue than physical fatigue. I was trying and couldn't get anything going - I couldn't buy a putt."
Three-major winner Harrington had little hope after double-bogeying the short sixth and with a 72 crashed out on three over.
That is now back-to-back missed cuts for the Dubliner before he heads back to America and, already down to 64th in the world, he is likely to fall even further now.
"It's tough when you miss the cut, but it's fine lines out here. It just wasn't my two days. Going double bogey, bogey knocked the stuffing out of me," Harrington said.
Leading and selected second round Irish Open scores at the Killarney Golf Club, Ireland on Friday (GBR and IRL unless stated, par 71):
132 - Marcel Siem (GER) 66-66
133 - Jeev Milkha Singh (IND) 63-70, Soren Hansen (DEN) 67-66
134 - Ignacio Garrido (ESP) 69-65
135 - Ross Fisher 67-68, Oliver Wilson 69-66, Richard Green (AUS) 67-68, Simon Dyson 70-65, Raphael Jacquelin (FRA) 67-68, Simon Wakefield 69-66
136 - Carlos Del Moral (ESP) 69-67, Christian Nilsson (SWE) 66-70, Damien McGrane 69-67, Niklas Lemke (SWE) 67-69, David Horsey 68-68, Peter Lawrie 70-66, Paul Cutler 69-67, Bernd Wiesberger (AUT) 67-69, Michael Hoey 69-67
137 - Gary Boyd 73-64, Richie Ramsay 68-69, Stephen Gallacher 71-66, Lorenzo Gagli (ITA) 68-69, Barry Lane 70-67
138 - Graeme McDowell 72-66, David Howell 69-69, Mark Brown (NZL) 71-67, Anthony Wall 70-68, Felipe Aguilar (CHI) 68-70, Rory McIlroy 70-68, Matt Haines 69-69, Romain Wattel (FRA) 69-69, Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN) 69-69, Markus Brier (AUT) 70-68, Jamie Donaldson 70-68
139 - Christian Cevaer (FRA) 70-69, Colm Moriarty 67-72, Richard Bland 70-69, John Parry 68-71, Simon Khan 70-69, James Morrison 71-68, David Dixon 70-69, Niclas Fasth (SWE) 69-70, Mark Foster 70-69
Selected
140 - Shiv Kapur (IND) 71-69, Jaco Van Zyl (RSA) 70-70, Marcus Fraser (AUS) 72-68
141 - Keith Horne (RSA) 70-71
Missed cut
142 - Anthony Kang (USA) 72-70, Paul McGinley 70-72
143 - Hennie Otto (RSA) 70-73, Michael Campbell (NZL) 66-77, Andrew Dodt (AUS) 71-72, Scott Pinckney (USA) 73-70, Darren Clarke 69-74
144 - Wade Ormsby (AUS) 72-72
145 - Daniel Gaunt (AUS) 73-72, Padraig Harrington 73-72
146 - Shaun Norris (RSA) 70-76, Scott Strange (AUS) 71-75
147 - Matthew Zions (AUS) 72-75
148 - James Kingston (RSA) 71-77, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (IND) 73-75
153 - Scott Hend (AUS) 78-75