Open de Espana: Halfway observations

Leaderboard: Top 10

1 Peter Uihlein (-6)

T2 Felipe Aguilar (-5)

T2 Raphael Jacquelin (-5)

T2 Rikard Karlberg (-5)

T5 Marc Warren (-4)

T5 Eddie Pepperell (-4)

T5 Morten Orum Madsen (-4)

T5 Craig Lee (-4)

T5 Andreas Harto (-4)

T10 Lasse Jensen (-3) 

T10 David Howell (-3)

T10 Tommy Fleetwood (-3)

T10 Matthew Baldwin (-3)

Notables:

T14 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (-2)

T14 Paul Casey (-2)

T22 Edoardo Molinari (-1)

T22 Anders Hansen (-1)

T30 Shane Lowry (E)

T43 Rafael Cabrera-Bello (+1)

T43 Sergio Garcia (+1)

T61 Matteo Manassero (+2)

MC Simon Dyson (+4)

MC Robert Rock (+5)

MC Miguel Angel Jimenez (+6)

MC Alvaro Quiros (+6)

MC Thomas Levet (+6)

MC Michael Hoey (+7)

MC Francesco Molinari (+7)

MC Pablo Larrazabal (+7)

MC Tom Lewis (+8)

MC Jose Maria Olazabal (+11)

MC Michael Campbell (+11)

MC Oliver Wilson (+16)

Observations:

• Peter Uihlein (-6): The American is playing this week on a sponsor's exemption and he's certainly making the most of it.  He's ranked 75th on the Race to Dubai, with his best finish being a 4th-place finish in the Tshwane Open.  He only has status on the Challenge Tour, so it's important that he takes advantage of invites on the Main Tour.  The former world #1 amateur will need to battle the nerves tomorrow, as well as the changing winds.  It's going to be interesting how he reacts tomorrow; if he shoots 72 (par) or better, I'd consider that a success and he likely wouldn't lose much ground, if any.
• Rikard Karlberg (-5): The big-hitting Swede started his second round on fire, starting birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie on his first four holes.  He would have been leading at the end of the day if he hadn't bogeyed the final two holes.  Karlberg, who is playing out of a lower category this season due to his 130th-place finish on the Race to Dubai last season, needs to post some good results in the coming weeks.  He's playing in the Ballantine's Championship and the Volvo China Open in the next two weeks, respectively.  While he plays the majority of his golf on the Asian Tour, he's stated that he wants to get his full Tour card in Europe.  Now that he has a category on the European Tour, he needs to take advantage of the co-sanctioned events in Asia (where he's exempt due to his Asian Tour ranking) and the limited events that he'll get into in Europe.  The first two rounds in Spain were certainly a good start.