Rumford moves into a share

Rumford: struggling in America

Omega European Masters
Second round leaders
GB&Ire unless stated
-8 B Rumford (Aus)
-8 R McIlroy
-7 J Abbate (Arg)
-7 A Canizares (Spn)
-7 JF Lucquin (Fra)

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Defending champion Brett Rumford shot a second successive 67 to join Northern Irish teenager Rory McIlroy at the top of the leaderboard in the Omega European Masters in Switzerland.

After an opening 63, McIlroy started the day three clear but had to scramble for par three times on the back nine to finish with a 71 and match Rumford's eight-under 134 total.

The pair are a stroke clear of Juan Abbate of Argentina (67), Spaniard Alejandro Canizares (68) and Frenchman Jean-Francois Lucquin (67).

Nineteen-year-old McIlroy mixed three birdies with three bogeys and admitted: "It's always difficult following a low round. My ironplay was not as good as yesterday and I holed a lot of par putts on the back nine to keep me going, so a 71 was pretty good."

He would be the third youngest winner in Tour history if he does take the £268,010 first prize on Sunday, just five days older than Seve Ballesteros was when the legendary Spaniard won the 1976 Dutch Open.

Dale Hayes holds the record, with the South African aged only 18 when he lifted the 1971 Spanish Open.

Ballesteros was also the last man to make a successful defence of this title in 1978, a feat Rumford is attempting to emulate.

Switched

The 31-year-old from Perth is playing only his second European event this year, having switched to the US Tour after coming through PGA qualifying school last year.

He has still to secure a card for next season in the States, where he is 149th on the Money List with just one top 10 all season, but commented: "There is absolutely nothing not to like about America and there is nothing I have found which has made me say I want to come back to Europe.

"That said, Europe is a fantastic Tour as well. They both offer different things."

Finland's Mikko Ilonen took over top spot in the afternoon, but bogeyed four of his last five holes to go back to five under and into a group which also includes 2008 Ryder Cup player Miguel Angel Jimenez.

Meanwhile, in a groundbreaking move, it was announced that from next year the tournament is to be co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour, with 30 of the 156-strong field coming from their ranking list.

Worldwide

There will inevitably be some European players, especially those who could miss out, unhappy at the development, but the European Tour is now worldwide and Keith Waters, the Director of International Policy, said: "It is timely and appropriate for us to support Omega's request to co-sanction this historic event.

"It's been a big decision, but we've spoken to our tournament (players) committee and it has generally been accepted and understood."