Veteran left hander Richard Green gave a good account of himself at the Aberdeen Asset Management Paul Lawrie Matchplay with some gutsy play over the first two days.

Green, a three-time winner on the European Tour, has struggled for much of 2016 but showed great tenacity in his three matches at Archerfield.

A flurry of birdies late in his first round match against the more fancied Englishman Lee Slattery was promising, particularly after being behind for much of the match, and that trend continued on day two.

Green faced tournament host and 1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie in the second round but after winning the first hole the left hander fell behind as Lawrie claimed the next three to open a 2up lead.

Showing great determination, Green halved the deficit at the seventh then squared the match at the 10th but Lawrie won 11 and 15 to be 2up with three to play.

Facing elimination, Green dug deep and with birdies at 16 and 18 forced the match into extra time where he won at the 19th.

Because of high winds forecast for Sunday organisers decided to play both round two and three matches on Friday with Green coming up against eventual tournament winner Anthony Wall in the afternoon.

The match was another tight tussle with Wall taking a 3up advantage when he birdied the 3rd but, as he had done previously, Green produced under pressure.

With four birdies in his last five holes the Australian forced the match down the 19th and while Wall eventually prevailed on the first extra hole Green will be encouraged with his play over the two days.

The outcome wasn’t as positive for the only other Australian in the field, Brett Rumford, who met tournament top seed Chris Wood in the opening round.

Wood, the reigning BMW PGA Champion, was hot favourite at the start of the week and the out of sorts Rumford proved no match for the Englishman.

A birdie at the first was the only highlight of the day for the West Australian, Wood squaring the match at the second then cruising to a 4&2 win after claiming several holes with pars.

With five missed cuts and a withdrawal in his last seven starts Rumford is in need of a confidence boost.

Only 10 full field events remain on the 2016 schedule and he is presently 111th on the Race to Dubai standings with only the top-110 guaranteed playing rights for 2017.