Shropshire golfer Scott Drummond fought back from the brink of disaster today to keep his hopes of retaining his place on the European Tour alive.

Drummond fired a second round three-under 67 at the Hong Kong Open this morning to lie five shots off the lead – and four off the top five finish he needs to retain his place for next season.

But he did it the hard way, birdieing six of the last 11 holes at Fanling to ensure he made the cut for the final two rounds this weekend.

The Shrewsbury-born ace, who had fired a one under par 69 in his first round yesterday, had looked down and out when he dropped three shots in the first eight holes to lie two over, two shots adrift of the projected cut mark.

But a birdie at the ninth revitalised the 2004 Volvo PGA winner, and he then picked up five more birdies on the back nine as he strives to avoid a return to qualifying school.

Drummond began the event lying 135th on the Order of Merit and needs a top five finish to bridge the 40,000 euros gap to the place in the top 115 that he requires to keep his card.

The top of the leaderboard is extremely congested – with France’s Gregory Bourdy, Robert-Jan Derksen of the Netherlands, China’s Liang Wen-chong, and Charl Schwartzel of South Africa all tied on nine under.

The leading Brit is David Dixon, who is tied for seventh on seven under.

Meanwhile, former Ryder Cup player Andrew Coltart failed to keep his Tour card today by missing the halfway cut at the JBWere Masters in Melbourne.

Coltart needed to climb just three places on the money list, but crashed out on eight over par after rounds of 77 and 75.

England’s Benn Barham, who only two months ago was denied victory in the Austrian Open by a closing 60 from Spaniard Rafael Cabrera-Bello, also blew it.

Barham exited on six over following a second day 78.