EUROPEAN OPEN RELATED STORIES Smurfit Kappa European Open Preview Round 1: Fasth & Dredge share first day lead Round 2: Bradley Dredge edges a shot ahead Round 3: Lara leads as Dredge falters Round 4: Stephen Dodd gains two shot victory Smurfit Kappa European Open Scores 2006 European Tour Schedule GOLF TODAY TOP STORIES Paul Azinger names US wildcards Faldo chooses Casey and Poulter Havret gains wire to wire Gleneagles win Sluman clinches First Tee Open with closing 67 Fallout continues over LPGA "English" rule Poulter chooses high risk Ryder Cup strategy GREAT GIFTS FOR GOLFERS Golf Breaks to Portugal & Ireland Half Price Golf Vouchers InstructaCard - your portable pro! The Father & Son Golf Ch'ship Golf Insurance

Bradley Dredge edges a shot ahead

World Cup winners Bradley Dredge and Stephen Dodd will be reunited Saturday at the European Open.

Dredge signed for a 2-under-par 70 and has a one-shot lead over Dodd after Friday's second round at the K Club.

Dredge is at 9-under 135 while Dodd is at 8-under after carding a 3-under 69 on Friday. The duo will be in the final group for the third round.

Others may have lost their cool in the windy conditions - Dutchman Maarten Lafeber threw his putter in a lake when he still had eight holes to play - but the Welsh pair showed the same battling qualities that made them world champions last November.

Neither has won a tournament since the World Cup, but the K Club's Smurfit course would be as good a place as any to change that.

"I saw Stephen before I went out and he said 'have a good day'," Dredge said. "It'll be good to play with him again, but this time we're against each other rather than with one another."

Dodd was victorious at last year's Irish Open, but is down in 90th place on this season's Order of Merit without a single top-10 finish.

He was delighted to have found some form again.

After adding a 69 to his opening 67 for an eight-under-par halfway total, Dodd was inevitably asked what the problem has been.

"I really don't know - I've been hitting it too many times," Dodd said. "If we knew the answer to all these problems that we get in our swings and mechanics, it would be an easy game.

"You've just got to accept that you're not going to play well all the time. It's hard to deal with but I've tried to do it. "I feel I'm turning a corner, but I've never thought about the Ryder Cup for one minute."

Two behind in third place is Darren Clarke (68), whose 2001 win in the event came on the Palmer course across the River Liffey, where September's Ryder Cup will be staged. Clarke, of course, would love to be part of that but his wife's cancer battle has put a question mark over his involvement ever since qualifying started last September.

"Heather's struggling a lot at the minute and, even if I was in the team, I don't know that I would be able to play in it," Clarke said.

Paul Casey, seeking a second successive victory that would take him top of the Order of Merit, could add only a 73 to his first day 66, but remains in contention at 5-under.

Colin Montgomerie is at 4-under following a 71, and American cup captain Tom Lehman signed for a 70 which lifted him to 3-under.

Padraig Harrington, defending champion Kenneth Ferrie and Lee Westwood just made the cut at 1-over.