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Jacquelin holds clear Madrid lead
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSMADRID, Spain -- Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin gave himself another chance to break his European Tour duck by taking a three-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Madrid Open. 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 64 to move to 14-under 128. That leave him three strokes ahead of Britain's Darren Clarke (67) and Gary Emerson (64). However, Seve 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 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. 
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