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Clarke & Raitt share halfway lead

Darren Clarke and Andrew Raitt each posted four-under rounds of 68 on Friday to grab the second-round lead at nine-under 135 at the Spanish Open.

Robert Karlsson, Carl Pettersson and Jarmo Sandelin share third at eight-under par while Andrew Coltart and overnight leader Andrew Oldcorn are knotted at minus-seven.

Clarke birdied number-two and then, like Thursday, went on a birdie tear. In the first round, Clarke opened his round with five birdies but on Friday it was four birdies in row, starting at the fifth for a front-nine 31.

He birdied the 11th for the second consecutive round but dropped a shot at 12 when he missed the green left. Clarke posted another bogey, this time at 17, for his 68.

"I got off to a really solid start", said Clarke, a seven-time winner on the European Tour. "I hit the ball well, hit lots of good shots and holed some nice putts. But the finish was disappointing. I thought I was on course for a 63 or 64 today."

Raitt started consistently with five pars out of the gate before he got into red figures with a birdie at his sixth, the 15th at El Saler. He followed the birdie with a bogey at the 18th for an even-par 36 on the front.

Raitt caught fire on his second nine with three straight birdies from holes one to three. He dropped a shot at the fourth, the second time he bogeyed the hole this week, but fought back with another three birdies in a row, starting from the sixth. Raitt could have owned the lead by himself at 10-under but a bogey at his 17th dropped him into the tie at the top of the leaderboard.

"It's all been a struggle for me so far," said Raitt, whose best finish on the European Tour was a share of seventh at the Moroccan Open two years ago. "I used to hit the ball long and straight and now I'm hitting it short and wide."

Sandelin had a second-round 66 highlighted by eight birdies and two bogeys. The Swedish Ryder Cupper was sensational with the putter as he holed putts from 90, 50, 40 and 30 feet.

"This is my best round in terms of long putts," said Sandelin. "So often the putts go close but this week they have gone in. Hopefully they will continue for the next two days."

Karlsson, who played with Sandelin in the first two rounds, holed impressive putts of his own on Friday. He made a pair of 20-footers and then drained a 40-footer at his 16th for a four-under 68.

Pettersson, a tour rookie, carded a three-under 69 thanks to five bogeys and two bogeys.

Stephen Scahill, John Bickerton and Jean-Francois Remesy round out the top-10 as they stand at six-under 138.

Spanish stars Miguel Angel Jimenez and Sergio Garcia safely made the 36-hole cut as they finished two rounds at four-under and two-under, respectively. Their countryman Jose Maria Olazabal did not qualify for weekend play as he double-bogeyed his 16th and then bogeyed his last to miss the cut by one at two-over 146.

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