Westwood has chance to end victory drought

Lee Westwood is relishing a rare lie-in this morning as he chases his first tournament victory in almost three years. Westwood added a second-round 68 to his opening 65 for an 11-under-par halfway total of 133 in the BMW International Open here, just four shots behind the leader Robert Karlsson, of Sweden.

It means the 30-year-old from Worksop will be among the later starters in the third round and could signal an end to the spectacular loss of form which has seen him slump from fourth in the world to 215th.

"It's nice to be in contention again, I haven't been for quite a while," said Westwood, who has not won since his seven victories in 2000 which saw him end Colin Montgomerie's seven-year reign as European No 1. "I'm looking forward to seeing my name on the leaderboard again"

Karlsson moved to the top on the back of two eagles and also chipped in on the seventh for one of his five birdies as he prepared to defend his European Masters title in Switzerland next week.

The Swede, who also won here in 1997, said: "You always have good feelings when you come back to a course where you have done well before." He leads by two shots from the first-round leader Raphael Jacquelin, of France, who added a 69 to his opening 62. Another Swede, Peter Hedblom, was a shot further back, alongside England's Gary Emerson, who carded a second-round 68.