Park sets pace at halfway

Jose Maria Olazabal's hopes of a Ryder Cup revival were dashed on Friday when the Canaries Spanish Open favourite missed the cut following another flurry of missed putts.

Olazabal's five-over-par 75 left him six-over-par 146, 17 strokes behind leader David Park of Britain.

It was the putter that betrayed the double U.S. Masters champion most, ending his 18th bid to win his home Open title.

Olazabal has missed the cut in the Spanish Open before but this failure could prove to be his costliest yet. He was trying to lift himself from a slump to 138th in the world rankings, 79th on the European money-list and 34th and 24th respectively on the European and world Ryder Cup points tables.

"What can I say? I missed the cut, shot 75, but missed only two greens all day," said Olazabal.

"Frustration, for sure, yes. When you shoot five-over-par and just miss two greens, that tells its own story. I had 37 putts today."

At 38 years old, Olazabal, who insisted his putting stroke is the same as the one he used to win both his Masters titles, has collected 28 titles worldwide, including 22 European Tour titles. But he now believes the years may be catching up with him.

"I think it is just age," he said. "Everything must be bad, the stroke, the eyesight, everything, whatever. Sometimes I hit the ball on line, sometimes I don't, but those I do, the ball doesn't go in the hole anyway."

Olazabal will try again to kick-start his Ryder Cup campaign by winning next week's Italian Open, having been undone not just his putter but by Fuenteventura's toughest hole, the 472-yard second.

He pushed his drive out of bounds to run up a triple-bogey and his chance of a weekend recovery was ended when his ball bounced into the hazard at the short 12th and he added a double bogey to his card.

Park, the overnight leader, surged four shots ahead of Frenchman Christian Cevaer by following up his first-round 64 with a 65 to move to 11-under-par 129.

The 29-year-old Briton is trying to end a slump since winning in 1999 only his second full tour event, the European Grand Prix.

Park has tidied up an errant takeaway and is determined to keep the smooth swing that has stood him in good stead in the Fuerteventura winds.

"Old habits die hard but the swing is now all one piece and smooth and I'm going into the weekend trying to play the way I have over the first two days," Park said.

Cevaer, twice a runner-up on tour, made his latest bid for victory just under a year after sealing his card by finishing second in the British Masters while on a medical extension after breaking an elbow in a snowboarding accident in 2002.

Swede Peter Hedblom, who similarly had to rebuild his career on a medical extension in 2003 after breaking a leg playing ice hockey, was a further stroke behind after a 66.

Briton Jamie Donaldson, lying second overnight, was forced to retire with a recurring back injury when sharing fourth place on five under par.

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