If Thursday was a gentle opening to the Irish Open with smiles and scorching sunshine, round two brings the first real pressure with the cut line swaying like a hangman's noose.

I make a note of watching the Irish players play the par-3 sixth and 10th holes because it gives a real indicator of who is striking and putting well.  Shane Lowry seems to got an angle grinder to those shackles that were around his neck yesterday as he birdied the sixth brilliantly to card 65 and haul himself back up the leaderboard. 

Shane also helped keep Ross Fisher in good humour as he went after the Holy Grail of 59.  In the end Fish had to settle for a 61 and he's out in front of all the others on 12 under.  He's struggled on the greens this year but is enjoying them being a little less pacy this week.  The last time Fisher was in this mood, he annihilated the field at the 2008 European Open in the London Club.  He's another Ryder Cup outsider desperate to get his name in the hat.

Padraig Harrington's second round was one of the most dramatic rounds I have ever seen.  Paddy was all over all the shop with his big dog pulling everything left.  Yet time and again he rescued the situation with a miracle chip or putt.  The one occasion Harrington's drive didn't go left was on 17 where he came up and out of it, slicing it short and right into thick ferns.  Harrington took his stance among the foliage but fearing that he might later be accused of improving his lie, he called in a Rules Official to verify everything was kosher.  "By the time I took my stance, the bush had moved a good two feet" he said afterwards. 

The only problem is that the official took 15 minutes to arrive and the gathered masses feared for Harrington.  What followed reminded me so much of Seve in his heyday.  Padraig first scythed his ball from the undergrowth with his sand wedge, then hit another wedge just over the back of the elevated green.  Rather than try to put down the slope, Harrington pulled out sandy again and canned to thunderous roars.  He popped in another bird on the last to cap one of the most remarkable battling rounds I have ever witnessed.

With Harrington, McIlory, Clarke, Hoey and Lowry still going well, an Irish win is still very much on the cards with two rounds down and two to go.