Frenchman Thomas Levet birdied the last at the Centenary course today to catch early Johnnie Walker Championship leader Simon Wakefield of England and share a one-shot lead.

Wakefield set the target of nine-under 137 with a four-under 69 in windy conditions.  Levet's 68 late in the day put the pair a shot ahead of first round leader Marc Warren of Scotland who bogeyed the last for a 73. England's, Phillip Archer, was a further stroke back.
   
Levet finished third in last week's Dutch Open following a worrying nine months in which his career was threatened by vertigo.
   
Now over his illness, Levet needs only to cure his wayward putting stroke, he said, to get back to the sort of form that earned him a Ryder Cup place in 2004.
   
"For the last two weeks I'm starting to reach the level of 2004," Levet told a news conference. "I'm just waiting for my putting to show up.
   
"In 2004 my bad putting days were decent but at the moment my bad putting days are bad.
   
"I'm trying to get to my level of three years ago because my goal this year was to reach peak form before the Ryder Cup campaign starts - and it starts next week."
   
Levet began his tournament in spectacular fashion yesterday, holing in one and he nearly began in the same style, striking his second shot to only two inches on the par-four first hole.
   
While Wakefield flourished in the morning, the tournament favourite and event chairman Colin Montgomerie, who had set himself a 10-under target at the halfway stage, had a stuttering 74 to finish six strokes off the lead, throwing in three sixes on his card, one of them a double-bogey.
   
Holder Paul Casey of England kept his chances of back-to-back victories in the event and a third Gleneagles win alive with a 71 that left him five shots away from the joint leaders.

Darren Clarke is best of the Irish after a 71 left the Dungannonman on two-under. Peter Lawrie shot 74 but still survived the weekend on the cut mark of level par.
 
Damien McGrane's 74 left the Meathman one shot outside the cut, while Gary Murphy and David Higgins were both well off the pace at four and five-over respectively after a pair of 77s. Graeme McDowell fared even worse as his 75 left the Portrush pro six-over.