Australian left-hander Nick O'Hern added a 69 to his opening 64 to finish nine under and lead fellow Aussie Brett Rumford and Scotland's Dean Robertson by one shot with Argentinian Jose Coceres, former Open champion Paul Lawrie and Dane Anders Hansen another shot adrift at the halfway stage of the Trophee Lancome
Robertson, the 1999 Italian Open champion, carded a joint best of the day 65 to move into contention for his second European Tour our victory.
"The front nine has been good to me, I was four under for the last five yesterday and four under for the last four today," said the 30-year-old from Paisley. “I would put it up there with the 63 in the third round in Switzerland last week. It's the first cut I've made here in five starts here, I decided to just come out on Wednesday and not play a practice round to try and do something different."
Fellow Scot Lawrie moved contention with a second-round 68. "I didn't drive the ball very well but if you putt like I did you can get away with it. Now I'm going to work on the range on my driving. I have no consistency with it, it's going left and right."
Lee Westwood, the current number two in the Volvo Order of Merit, carded a second consecutive 68 to lie six under and three off the lead, while the man ahead of him - Darren Clarke - carded a 70 to be five under. Nick Faldo coninued to demonstrate his return to form by picking up five birdies in the first 16 holes to move within two shots of the lead but bogeys on the last two holes left him four off the pace.
"It's annoying to finish like that and it dampens what could have been a really great day,” said Faldo. “But it was good to go out and create a lot of birdie chances. I played really well and the ball was searching for the hole on the greens. At times my game feels good. Not like 10 years ago, but it's just a process of clawing my way back and every shot is a shot towards the world rankings and the Ryder Cup."
Overnight leader Roger Wessels of South Africa fared even worse, an 81 added to his opening 63 landing him with the unwanted distinction of joining Rodney Pampling at the 1999 Open as first round leaders who missed the halfway cut.
Day 2 video highlights
