THE steady golf of Wiltshire amateur Jordan Smith looked certain to keep him safely inside the cut on his European Tour debut at the Lyoness Open in Austria today.

The Derry Hill player, based at the Bowood Golf & Country Club, added a level-par 72 to his opening 71 on Thursday to lie one under par midway through the second round at the Diamond Country Club in Atzenbrugg.

With the cut projected at around the three over par mark, the ??-year-old looked certain to progress through to the final two rounds on the weekend, having been secured an invite to the event courtesy of his management group MB Partners.

While playing partners Peter Hedblom, of Sweden, and home player Moritz Mayrhauser struggled around the cut-off point, Smith was the epitome of consistency in both of his opening two rounds.

The 2013 Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup carded 17 pars in his opening 18 holes, adding a solitary birdie at the first - his tenth.

He birdied the same hole, this time for starters, this morning and added another at the sixth to briefly get to three under par before his first dropped shot in 25 holes of European Tour gold arrived at the seventh.

Another shot was leaked at the ninth, but Smith, coached by Simon Shanks at Bowood, then parred in to lie inside the top 30.

Among those failing to join Smith in the final two rounds were two-time Masters champion Jose-Maria Olazabal - the 2012 European Ryder Cup captain.

Sweden's Mikael Lundberg was the early second-round leader on nine under par, the tournament concluding with rounds three and four tomorrow and Sunday.

MORE ON SMITH'S PROGRESS IN AUSTRIA THIS WEEKEND AT GAZETTEANDHERALD.CO.UK/SPORT