Jacquelin takes lead after seven birdies

Spurred on by a desire to get into the world's top 50, France's Raphael Jacquelin made the most of the dry, sunny afternoon conditions here to surge to the top of the leader board at the Dunhill Championship, carding a 65 to take him to 13 under par at the halfway stage.

Jacquelin was one of the few afternoon players to take advantage of the conditions, the lower scores belonging to those who teed off in the morning. The Frenchman hit three birdies on the front nine and four more on the back nine, taking a one-shot lead into the third round.

Sharing second place were the Irishman Peter Lawrie and Germany's Marcus Siem, who both revelled in the conditions too. The morning belonged to Lawrie, the European Tour rookie of the year, who carded an eight-under-par 64 despite suffering with an Achilles tendon injury to his left ankle.

"I just got a little bit of physio on it this morning but it's been very sore all day," he said. "Just this morning, I felt it when I got out of bed. I certainly wasn't jumping out of bed at half five this morning, so it definitely wasn't that! I was thinking more about my ankle than my scores. I was just trying to hit it down the fairways and on to the greens and I holed a few putts."

The cut came at three under par and the 2002 champion, Justin Rose, was one of those who missed out. The defending champion, Mark Foster, was luckier, making it right on the mark after a 69. Lee Westwood added a 70 to his opening 68 to reach six under par.

* Kerry Perry shot a six-under-par 66 to take a one-stroke lead after the second round of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in California. Perry stands on 14-under-par 130 in the 90-hole event played over four courses.