Kapur joins Colsaerts

Shiv Kapur and Nicolas Colsaerts share the lead at the halfway stage of the KLM Dutch Open at Hilversum.

The Indian and Belgian respectively shot a two-under-par 68 and 70 on Friday to move onto an eight under total, one clear of former Open champion Todd Hamilton.

The American, who shot a second-round 67, is looking for his first victory since his success at Troon in 2004 and has slipped down to 545th in the world rankings in recent times.

Hamilton, who has made only two cuts in his last 19 events, is hoping a decision to join the European Tour will help arrest his decline.

The 44-year-old said: "I don't have full status on the US Tour any more, so I looked at the schedule and thought I'd come to places I've never been to.

"When I got here it wasn't the type of course I enjoy playing. You need to drive well and I haven't been doing that as well as I would have liked.

"I thought I'd struggle, but a lot of times whatever you think is going to happen doesn't happen.

"I didn't hit a lot of fairways, but it seemed like I always had a good angle to the flag and everything worked out."

Joining Hamilton in a tie for third place are Sweden's Christian Nilsson (65) and France's Jean-Francois Lucquin (67).

Colsaerts, meanwhile, was unable to come close to the career-low 62 he managed on Thursday to go two shots clear of the field.

The Belgian lost a ball in the heather at the 476-yard sixth - his 15th - and emerged with a double-bogey six before finishing with another dropped shot.

Kapur, who shot a 64 in his opening round, also found the going more difficult and managed three birdies and a bogey compared to the six birdies and an eagle he managed a day earlier.

Mistake

Favourite Martin Kaymer, who is contesting his first tournament since winning the USPGA title four weeks ago, has started with two 67s to be just two behind.

Like most of the field, the German had trouble making anything on the soft greens and commented: "I think it was a little mistake that we played the pro-am on Wednesday - I think they could have saved them for the tournament."

Ryder Cup team-mates Ross Fisher and Francesco Molinari are seven back after rounds of 71 and 74 respectively.

Fisher, who had been in joint fourth overnight, bogeyed four of his first six holes, took six at the long 12th and had to wait until the final green for his only birdie.