English trio lead at halfway

Britain's Ian Poulter fired a six-under-par 66 to move into a three-way tie for the lead after the BMW International Open's second round Friday, despite having to use his second caddie of the week.

Englishman Poulter, who shares a one-shot advantage over the rest of the field with compatriots Richard Bland and Jamie Spence, had to make do without his regular caddie Jimmy Rae, who was admitted to hospital with pneumonia Thursday night.

Poulter, second overnight, began round two with Colin Montgomerie's caddie Andy Prodger, who flew in from Scotland and made the afternoon tee-off with just 40 minutes to spare.

But the pair gelled quickly and Poulter, who birdied three of the first five holes, ended the day level with Spence (64) and Bland (66), who had set the target of 13-under-par 131 in the morning field.

The British trio were one ahead of Denmark's Ryder Cup player Thomas Bjorn, who returned a 64.

First-round leader Bernhard Langer, in fifth, remained on course to clinch the only German title he does not have among his 11 wins on home soil, having fought a bout of food poisoning to card a 69 and lie two strokes off the lead.

Langer later described his effort as the hardest round of his life.

While Langer rebuilt his round over the back nine after an understandable shaky start when he was not even sure he could finish the round, Poulter found good rhythm and form from the very first hole.

"Jimmy has not been feeling well for over a week, coughing and spluttering all the time, but he's a stubborn Scot and decided to come over here with me, even though I told him to take the week off," Poulter said.

"He was sick 15 times on the course yesterday and lagging a long way behind me, so he obviously needed to see a doctor.

"An ambulance took him to Erding hospital on a drip and it was found he had pneumonia. He'll be off for three or four weeks now.

"Obviously I needed someone on the bag who's been up there and I made a couple of calls and got hold of Andy Friday afternoon.

"He was cutting his grass when I got hold of him, but he was cutting it a bit fine getting here!

"It's good to have a caddie who you can rely on 100 percent when choosing clubs.

"But Monty (Montgomerie) and I are pretty similar with our distances, so it wouldn't have been that hard a change."

Prodger, who had to abandon plans to attend a barbecue and visit his wife Catriona's aunt over the weekend, was stranded at London's Heathrow airport for 90 minutes Friday morning.

"I was gob-smacked to get the call (from Poulter), particularly as only two hours before my wife -- for some reason -- asked me: 'How are Jimmy and Ian going on?"'

Montgomerie was forced to miss this week's event with recurring back spasms and Poulter, on standby for next month's Ryder Cup after finishing 11th in last year's qualifying table, could end up replacing the 39-year-old Scot at The Belfry.

Spence and Bland both holed a series of long putts in the morning to set the early second-round pace while Bjorn and Langer, despite his illness problems, both showed they are in good shape for Ryder Cup showdown with the United States.

Langer's American golf pro caddie Russell Holden had also succumbed to food poisoning after eating at the same restaurant as his employer.

Defending champion John Daly narrowly made the cut at four-under-par 140 after collecting a birdie at the last for his second successive 70.

Irishman Padraig Harrington, beaten into second place by Daly last year, also squeezed into the third round on 140 after consecutive rounds of 70.

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