Raphael Jacquelin leads by three at halfway

Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin gave himself anther chance to break his European Tour duck by taking a three-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Madrid Open on Friday but there was no story-book return for Seve Ballesteros.

Jacquelin, heralded as the tour's best player still without a win, had the best start of his career when he added a second seven-under-par 64 to move to 14-under-par 128, three ahead of Britain's Darren Clarke (67) and Gary Emerson (64).

Ballesteros had to take consolation from a crowd-pleasing birdie finish as he tacked a 73 to his opening 77 to finish eight-over, in penultimate position for the tournament.

The five-time major champion and six-time European number one, making a return after two years away, said: "It was difficult to come back and I was surprised how tense I felt on the first day but today I was more relaxed.

"This is only the start. It may take six or seven tournaments, though, maybe more, before I can get back to being ready to compete properly.

"I will not be playing for the rest of this year but next year I will maybe play Singapore or Malaysia early in the year."

Leader Jacquelin has four second places to his credit, including a runner-up earlier this year in the Indonesia Open. The Frenchman believes his win could come at last this week after collecting another nine birdies, only marring his day with a closing bogey.

"I'm rolling the ball well on the greens, which are difficult, and holing a lot of putts, so I have to think I can win if I keep doing this," said Jacquelin.

"And I've never started with two good scores like this, so why not my week this week?"

Clarke, playing in Madrid rather than Las Vegas so he can be close to home and his wife Heather, who is battling cancer, is looking for a first European Tour title for over two years.

Europe's captain Ian Woosnam had his best return for six months, a 65 that left him contending again after missing seven cuts out of his last nine starts, six shots off the lead.

Colin Montgomerie was in danger of missing the cut after slipping to two-over with an opening bogey but fought back to finish 10 shots off the pace.

Spain's Ivo Giner needed to birdie the final two holes for a 59, but had to settle for a 60 when he could only pick up one extra shot.

Lying seven off the lead, Giner's 60 would have equalled the European Tour 18-hole record but does not count in the record books because of preferred-lies at soaking Club de Campo.

128 Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 64 64

131 Gary Emerson 67 64, Darren Clarke 64 67

132 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 66 66

133 Stuart Little 67 66, Ian Garbutt 69 64

134 Ian Woosnam 69 65, Graeme Storm 66 68, Paul Lawrie 68 66, Damien McGrane 68 66

135 Ivo Giner (Spa) 75 60, Mark Roe 63 72, David Park 68 67

136 Stephen Gallacher 69 67, Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 67 69, Anders Hansen (Den) 67 69, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 66 70, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 67 69, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 64, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 69 67, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 67 69, Marcel Siem (Ger) 70 66, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 67 69, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 67 69

137 Scott Drummond 70 67, Simon Khan 68 69, Alastair Forsyth 66 71, James Kingston (Rsa) 71 66, Fernando Roca (Spa) 69 68, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 69 68, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 67 70, Gregory Havret (Fra) 69 68, Anthony Wall 68 69, Christopher Hanell (Swe) 69 68, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 69 68, Brett Rumford (Aus) 66 71, Johan Skold (Swe) 69 68, Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 70 67, Neil Cheetham 70 67, Phillip Archer 70 67, Carlos De Corral (Spa) 71 66, Oliver Wilson 69 68

138 David Lynn 69 69, Colin Montgomerie 72 66, Santiago Luna (Spa) 69 69, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 67 71, Stuart Manley 68 70, Andrew Marshall 70 68, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 68 70, Markus Brier (Aut) 69 69, Mark Foster 69 69

139 Gary Murphy 70 69, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 72 67, Richard Bland 73 66, Philip Golding 74 65, Rolf Muntz (Ned) 72 67, David Drysdale 72 67, Garry Houston 68 71, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 63 76, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 74 65, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 72 67, Jose Manuel Carriles (Spa) 70 69, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 69 70

140 Soren Kjeldsen 72 68, Steve Webster 72 68, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 70 70, Brad Kennedy (Aus) 68 72, David Carter 70 70, Johan Axgren (Swe) 70 70, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 69 71, Costantino Rocca (Ita) 71 69, Miles Tunnicliff 71 69, Alvaro Salto (Spa) 69 71, Simon Wakefield 73 67, (x) Jorge Mazario (Spa) 69 71

The Following Players missed the Cut:

141 Steven O'Hara 72 69, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 73 68, David Griffiths 74 67, Ben Mason 69 72, Peter Gustafsson (Swe) 72 69, Soren Hansen (Den) 70 71, Simon Dyson 71 70, Andrew Coltart 72 69

142 Robert Coles 71 71, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 73 69, John Bickerton 71 71, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 71 71, Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa) 72 70, Jamie Donaldson 75 67, Raul Ballesteros (Spa) 69 73, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 74 68, Matthew King 72 70

143 Martin Maritz (Rsa) 75 68, Peter Fowler (Aus) 72 71, Raymond Russell 73 70, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 72 71, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 74 69, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 74 69

144 Paul Broadhurst 71 73, Jonathan Lomas 73 71, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 72 72, (x) Pedro Oriol (Spa) 76 68, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 71 73, Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 67 77

145 Marten Olander (Swe) 75 70, Fredrik Henge (Swe) 74 71, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 76 69, Richard Finch 74 71, Diego Borrego (Spa) 74 71

146 Sandy Lyle 74 72, Leif Westerberg (Swe) 76 70

147 Andrew Oldcorn 71 76, Juan Carlos Pinero (Spa) 78 69

148 Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 73 75, Lee Slattery 73 75, Malcolm Mackenzie 72 76

149 Juan Vizcaya (Spa) 80 69

150 Seve Ballesteros (Spa) 77 73

151 Daniel Gallardo (Spa) 77 74

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