• Wales Open, Round Two

Siem and Dodt lead the way as Donald comes good

Luke Donald is back in the hunt for the Wales Open title © Getty Images

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Marcel Siem and Andrew Dodt took over at the top of the leaderboard on the second day of the Wales Open as overnight leader Chris Wood slipped five shots away from the lead.

Wood had briefly moved into a three shot lead with back-to-back birdies at the second and third, but three double bogeys checked the 22-year-old's progress as he dropped back to one under after a disastrous second-round 76.

In contrast, Siem, who won the Dunhill Championship in 2004, fired seven birdies in a round of 67 to move to six under, while Australian Dodt followed up his first-round 66 with a steady one-under-par round of 70 to join the German at the summit.

Luke Donald produced a superb repair job to move to within four shots of the lead and put himself in contention for back-to-back titles. The Englishman ended a four-year barren spell to land the Madrid Masters last weekend, but made a poor start at Celtic Manor as a 75 left him at four-over after 18 holes.

The 32-year-old started round two 10 shots off the lead but made a bright start with a couple of birdies. His round looked set to come off the rails when he hit a double-bogey seven on his eighth hole, but bounced back with a barrage of birdies coming in. Four birdies in his final seven holes helped him card a 65 to move to two-under-par.

Denmark's Thomas Bjorn is one shot behind the leaders after posting a three-under round of 68, while Miguel Angel Jimenez heads a group of five players tied for fourth on four under.

Welsh sensation Rhys Davies endured a difficult day as he failed to build on a decent first round by slipping back to two under after carding a two-over-par 73. Davies is joined on the same total by Europe Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie. The Scot struck his second straight 70 of the tournament and will hope to go low enough to threaten the leaders over the weekend.

1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie's day veered from the sublime to the ridiculous as he followed five birdies in his first nine holes with a nightmare 11 at the par-five second - his tenth hole of the day. He had charged from 63rd to joint fourth and looked set to improve on that despite finding a greenside bunker with his second shot at the 610-yard second.

Instead he went over the green from the sand, saw his next shot trundle down into a hollow and needed three attempts to recover onto the green. That was not the end of the drama. Lawrie putted back into the hollow and eventually holed out for a quintuplet bogey to miss the cut by a single shot.

Graeme McDowell had a topsy-turvy round, as a string of birdies on the back nine were undone by a couple of double-bogeys and he sits at even-par after 36 holes.

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