BRADLEY Dredge will be gunning for a top 15 finish in The Open this weekend. And he aims to get there for a purpose, saying: "That will give me exemption for next years' championship at Sandwich."

The 29-year-old Blackwood product comfortably qualifying for the last two rounds yesterday.

Dredge, the former Welsh Boys' and Amateur champion who is currently 20th in the Volvo Order of Merit after his second placein the Smurfit European Open in Dublin, returned a second round 72 to add to his 70 on Thursday.

He was happy with the score particularly because his overall game was below par. "My driving was just shocking. I only hit six or seven fairways all day but managed to scramble with some good chips and putts.

"If I can score 72 when playing like that, anything can happen," said the star who learned his golf on the Bryn Meadows course.

Unfortunately, Dredge missed a six foot birdie putt on the 17th and also failed with a six footer on the last which cost him a dropped stroke.

But earlier he had birdied the longest hole on the course, the fifth, after a superb two iron to the edge of the green and picked up strokes at the ninth, the 11th as well. At the short 16th he rammed in a 35-footer.

Dredge had got off to a disappointing start, dropping strokes on two of the first three holes but then steadied things and said: "It could well have been a 77 or 78 today, so in that context, I am delighted with my score."

He added "My performance in the Smurfit Open has certainly boosted my confidence. "I believe that a top 15 finish is well within my grasp."

David Park produced a truly excellent performance to roar back after a mediocre Thursday and sweep impressively past the halfway cut.

Starting off at two over, the Hereford-based 28-year-old former Welsh Amateur champion birdied four of the last eight holes to fire in a four-under-par 67.