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Karlsson & Howell share 36 hole lead

England's David Howell fired a seven- under 65 on Friday to match overnight leader Robert Karlsson at the top of the leaderboard at 11-under-par 133 midway through the British Masters.

The duo owns a three-shot lead over Zimbabwe's Mark McNulty, who posted a 66 to get to eight-under par for the championship.

Andrew Coltart, Thomas Levet, Roger Wessels and Anthony Wall share fourth at minus-six.

Howell trailed Karlsson by seven shots at the beginning of his round but made up ground quickly with birdies at the first two holes. He added birdies at five and seven for a front-nine 32.

The 25-year-old started to catch Karlsson, who was in the clubhouse after his second-round 67. Howell birdied 11 then holed a three-footer at the 12th to get within one. Howell caught Karlsson with his third birdie in a row at the 13th when rolled home a 10-footer.

Howell parred his remaining five holes for his share of the lead and his lowest round on the European Tour in the 2001 campaign.

"I wasn’t swinging that well at the start but then it came better at the end which bodes well for the weekend and obviously I’m delighted," Howell said. "In the Australian PGA I shot 66 in the third round which was a good effort because it was blowing a hooly, but this is definitely my best this year, without a shadow of a doubt."

The 65 would be good for the course record at the Marquess Course at Woburn Golf & Country Club but Friday's round was contested under preferred lies.

Karlsson started on the second nine Friday and birdied three of his first five holes. His lone blemish so far this week came at his ninth -- the 18th at Woburn -- and gave him a two-under 34 at the turn.

The Swede carded three birdies on his second nine to take the clubhouse lead at 11-under.

"I actually played better today than yesterday," said Karlsson, who carded a flawless 65 in the first round. "I hit a lot more fairways. I wasn’t really out of play at all. It was good today."

These two have some match-play history against each other, as they were pitted against each other on the final day at last year's Seve Ballesteros Trophy.

"Robert beat me 2 & 1 in the Seve Ballesteros Trophy last year," said Howell. "And, of course, that was crucial to the match -- well, any defeat was crucial -- because we lost by just a point."

McNulty, who captured the South African Open in January, birdied three holes in a row on his front nine and added two after he made the turn to take sole possession of third place.

European Tour powerhouses Lee Westwood and Colin Montgomerie are tied with Nick O'Hern and Mathias Gronberg at five-under 139.

The 36-hole cut fell at even-par and former champions Peter Baker (1993) and 1999 European Ryder Cup captain Mark James (1990) were among those who failed to qualify for the weekend.

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