Cushioned by a healthy bank balance, Barry Lane could remain moderately sane after missing all six cuts this season. So, when the putter started working yesterday, he had the confidence to shoot a second round of 66 and share the lead with Italy's Massimo Florioli on 135, at the halfway stage of the £750,000 Benson and Hedges International.

From early morning, competitors had been pushed along in a sort of controlled frenzy as officials attempted to make up the time lost by Thursday's storm. And with the course bathed in glorious sunshine, they succeeded for the most part, though nine rounds still have to be completed this morning.

Darren Clarke took up the Irish challenge with a birdie, birdie finish to a round of 69 for 139. It was the culmination of a remarkable back nine which contained only 11 putts as he got up and down to save par on no fewer than five occasions.

"I've kept myself in with a chance of winning," he said with a broad grin, having sunk a particularly tricky 15-footer across the 18th green. And the shades of night were closing in rapidly when Paul McGinley bogeyed the last for 73 and 142.

With the cut expected at 144, Eamonn Darcy got in on the limit after carding three birdies over his last five holes. But Raymond Burns (149), Ronan Rafferty (147) and Christy O'Connor Jnr (145) departed the scene while Philip Walton, on seven over, had two holes to play when the siren went.

This has been a very fruitful venue for Lane, whose day started with the completion of a first round of 69. It was here, three years ago, that the 37-year-old Englishman won the qualifying section of the Andersen Consulting World Championship, before going on to capture a $1 million jackpot in the final in Arizona.

So, for 1995, Lane's tournament earnings were a formidable £936,845: no matter that he has failed to rise above 76th place in the Order of Merit since then. "I putted well today and that's the thing that's been missing," he said after a 66 which brought him to nine under par.

He went on: "After studying old videos, I changed my putting grip back to what it used to be. And I never lost my enjoyment of the game; I never lost my desire."

With nine birdies on his card, he could afford a double-bogey at the 12th, where he drove into rough and went on to miss a fourfoot putt. And he bogeyed the third, where the driver again failed him, guiding the ball into a fairway bunker.

But the putter delivered a rich dividend, including a 45-foot birdie putt at the fifth, a birdieeffort of 20 feet at the 14th and two successful putts of 15 feet for further birdies. Having started on the 10th, he covered the front nine in 31 to equal the best of the day by Dennis Edlund and Carl Watts.

Lane didn't talk of money, but Colin Montgomerie was more direct about the subject after a second round of 68 brought him to 137, two strokes off the lead. "The money has become more incidental than it was before," he said. "Winning is what drives me and I'd rather win one tournament than have two seconds."

Given his current form, there's every possibility that Montgomerie may succeed tomorrow in breaking 80 for the first time in a final round at this venue. It will be recalled that his closing round here 12 months ago was a none too salubrious 81.

Indeed the last two stagings of this event created some wondrous and decidedly unflattering images of a beleaguered Scot, whose antics were not far removed from the inimitable Basil Fawlty. But on this occasion he insisted: "I enjoyed playing today; I felt very relaxed out there."

Which was more than could be said for Per-Ulrik Johansson who incurred a two-shot penalty to run up a triple-bogey eight at the long fourth. In taking relief from a cart path, the Swede made the mistake of not dropping sufficiently clear of the condition.

As a result, his club caught the path on his follow-through, in breach of Rule 20-2 c(v) - "A dropped ball shall be re-dropped without penalty if it rolls to a position where there is interference by the condition from which relief was taken . . ." In the event, it led to a 76 for 146, causing him to miss the cut - by two strokes.

Florioli, a 26-year-old with two Challenge Tour victories to his credit, made a dramatic leap to the top of the leaderboard with two successive twos on the back nine. The first of them was the product of an eight-foot birdie putt at the short 13th and the other resulted from a holed wedge of 120 yards at the next.

Padraig Harrington, who missed two of his last three cuts, was clearly pleased to have got through on 142 after rounds of 70 and 72. Still with the entire back nine of his first round to play, he started at 7.50 a.m. and proceeded to card an inward 37 - one over par.

He then seemed set to climb rapidly up the leaderboard when, having started at the 10th, he birdied the 11th and 13th to be four under at that stage. But his remaining holes became a baffling mixture of four bogeys and two birdies.

"I seemed to become disorientated midway through the round," he said afterwards. "This caused me to lose my balance, with the result that I made some really poor swings. Still, I'm pleased at having missed only five fairways in 36 holes."

Des Smyth was another of the Irish players early into action, little more than 12 hours after play was suspended when he had completed on his third hole on Thursday evening. But it was a fruitful effort, culminating in a first round of 69.

"I was really delighted by the fact that I didn't have a bogey," he said afterwards. "I can't remember when that last happened." And the mood stayed with him for the first nine holes of his second round where he carded nine straight pars. That gave him sufficient leeway to make the cut on 143 after a 74.