Stephen Gallacher of Scotland, second overnight and playing with Lonard, began well but

bogeyed five holes out of eight in mid-round and finished with a 75. He is five shots off the

lead.

But Paul Broadhurst and Steve Webster remained in the thick of the hunt with respective rounds of 70 and 74 to stand four and five strokes off the lead respectively.

In the windy conditions, Broadhurst felt his 70 was "not a bad score. I knew it was going to be tough," he said.

"I started with a bogey but then made three birdies on the next five. But once you turn back into the wind, seven is a monster, nine was a good drive and a four iron, 10 was tough and then you have to try and make your score on 11, 12, 13, 14 if you can.

"Then 16 is not that easy, 17 is a monster then you try and make birdie at the

last. But I'm quite happy with 70. It would have been quite easy to come in with 74 or 75.

"It's not that difficult a course when it's flat calm but put a 25 mph wind out there and it's tough. And the wind today was coming from a different direction as well. All of a sudden the tough holes are into the wind.

"It's not an easy golf course," Broadhurst said.

Webster maintained the fine form he has shown this week, shooting two over for the front nine of the 7,031-yard course, then parring all the holes on the back nine.

"It was a bit of a frustrating day. Got off to a bad start with a bogey but after birdies on the next two holes I thought was going to have a good day," the 29-year-old from Atherstone said.

"But then I had a couple of bad three putts. It was tough out there so I'm happy with nine pars on the back nine.

"Five under is still in there. I want it to blow like a gale tomorrow," Webster said.

Lonard, who also plays the U.S. Tour and has a home in Orlando, said that apart from his

tee shot at the seventh, "I was pretty much in control of the whole deal.

"You have to play the par threes well and obviously with a triple bogey at seven I didn't. But

that was the first shot I mishit and after that I played nicely and gave myself chances."

He said the 175-yard seventh was into the wind. "I tried a knockdown four iron which

started right and did not come back and it finished down in the rough on the back end of a

ridge."

His first chip got halfway up the hill and rolled back down into a worse spot, from where he

had to chip out backwards. He chipped his fourth to 40 feet and two-putted.

He was asked if he thought of taking a penalty for an unplayable, and replied: "I'm not that

smart.

"I thought the first chip would come out," he said

Gallacher began well and held the lead outright, but briefly. A poor shot at the seventh led

to a bogey and he also bogeyed nine, 10, 11 and 14. He could not recover.

Irish hopes of a first home victory since John O'Leary in 1982 remained afloat as Paul McGinley produced a day's best 66 to move to within four shots of the lead.

He was one ahead of Padraig Harrington, who had a three-over 40 for the front nine and a

four-under 31 for the back, on which he made sixs birdies.

Harrington said he is struggling with the mental aspects of the game.

"The focus wasn't there at the start and it took me six holes to get into it. My preparation

needs to be a little sharper.

"Maybe I need a quick nine before I go out," he said. "I'm just not preparing properly, not getting my head around things before I start and is it taking me too long on the course before I start getting into it."

He said his caddy, Ronan Flood, told him on the 10th hole that it was time to start thinking about his score rather than his swing, about which Harrington admitted on Friday he was obsessed.

"I am too focused on swinging rather than scoring. I need to work on getting it in the hole and that is it," the Irishman said.

But he was amzed to be just five shots off the lead. "I cannot believe it," he said. "I was 11 behind after 11 holes." That was before he shot six back-nine birdies.

Darren Clarke's game fell apart off the tee and he shot 78 to fall away to a tie for 64th

position.

"I played atrocious. I struck the ball really badly. I just couldn't control the ball flight and I have no idea why," he said.

Lonard has never won outside his own country but has the ambition of adding victories on the European, U.S. and Japanese circuits - his own version of the Grand Slam.

Lonard said his only bad shot of the round was the tee shot at seven.

Though he said he came off the green unchastened, he three-putted the next for

bogey.