Irish Open: Soren Kjeldsen two clear at Royal County Down

Soren Kjeldsen leads by two shots at the Irish Open after a four-under 67 at Royal County Down.

The Dane is seven under, two ahead of closest challengers Maximilian Kieffer of Gemany, who carded a course record 65 in windy conditions, and Spain's Rafa Cabrera-Bello (69).

Scotland's Richie Ramsay (70) and the English pair of Tyrrell Hatton (70) and Luke Donald (72) are also in the mix.

Paul McGinley and Graeme McDowell are the best of the Irish on three over.

There was disappointment for a sell-out crowd on Friday when world number one and tournament host Rory McIlroy missed the cut.

Kjeldsen used his superior putting to break free of a six-way tie as gusting winds sabotaged many players' short games.

The 40-year-old rolled a long eagle attempt on the 12th to within 18 inches, before settling for his fifth birdie.

Rickie Fowler eagled the 16th before enduring a nightmare final two holes at Royal County Down

On the next hole, a curling 30-yard putt for a sixth birdie left Kjeldsen punching the air in jubilation.

But the world number 303 bogeyed the final two holes to give hope to Cabrera-Bello and Kieffer.

"If you had given me 67 stood on the first tee I would have been very happy," said Kjeldsen, whose last win came in the Open de Andalucia in 2009.

"I played terrific all day and didn't think I did too much wrong on the last two holes, so I will focus on the first 16."

Kieffer's course-record round of 65 was one shot lower than the previous best set in 1939 and matched on Friday by Hatton.

American Rickie Fowler was high on the leaderboard after chipping in for an eagle at 16.

However, the world number nine lost a ball off the tee on the 17th and ran up a quadruple-bogey eight before sending his drive out of bounds on the par-five 18th to card another eight and post a round of 76.