Reuters - Frenchman Thomas Levet birdied the last hole at the PGA Centenary Course at The Gleneagles Hotel on catch early leader Simon Wakefield of England for a share of the halfway lead in the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles.
Wakefield set the target of nine under par 137 with a four under par 69 in windy conditions during a brisk Perthshire morning. Levet's 68 late in the day put the pair a shot ahead of first round leader Marc Warren of Scotland, who bogeyed the last for a 73, with Phillip Archer of England a further stroke back in outright fourth.
Levet finished third in last week's KLM Open following a worrying nine months in which his career was threatened by vertigo.
Now over his illness, Levet needs only to cure his wayward putting stroke, he said, to get back to the sort of form that earned him a Ryder Cup place in 2004.
"For the last two weeks I'm starting to reach the level of 2004," Levet said. "I'm just waiting for my putting to show up. In 2004 my bad putting days were decent but at the moment my bad putting days are bad.
"I'm trying to get to my level of three years ago because my goal this year was to reach peak form before The Ryder Cup campaign starts -- and it starts next week and I can’t wait. My goal when I came back from illness was to have a job for next year and get a card anywhere. Now my goal is to get back in The Ryder Cup Team."
Levet began his tournament in spectacular fashion on Thursday, holing in one and he nearly began in the same style, striking his second shot to only two inches on the par-four first hole.
While Wakefield flourished in the morning, the tournament favourite and event Chairman Colin Montgomerie, who had set himself a ten under par target at the halfway stage, had a frustrating 74 to finish six strokes off the lead, throwing in three sixes on his card, one of them a double bogey.
Wakefield, lying 77th on The European Tour Order of Merit, showed he has changed his mental approach this week following a lull in form after finishing third in the Irish Open at Adare Manor Hotel & Golf Resort in May, battling in blustery conditions to card six birdies.
The 33 year old, bidding for a maiden European Tour title in his tenth season, admitted to "dropping off mentally" after securing his card for next year with his third place at Adare Manor.
"When you retain your card you think 'that's it, I'm safe' and you don't seem to have that drive, but this week I've come out from day one to try to win the tournament," Wakefield said.
Saturdays have proved a problem in the past, however, so Wakefield is determined not to let his concentration flag in the third round.
"For some reason I've never enjoyed Saturdays," he said. "It's a similar thing to making your card, when you've made the cut you seem to lose drive. This time I'm going to treat it like the first two rounds."
Title holder Paul Casey of England kept his chances of back-to-back victories in the event and a third Gleneagles win alive with a 71 that left him five shots away from the joint leaders.
