Trio close in on Clarke

James Kingston, Thomas Levet and Eduardo Romero all made hay before the expected arrival of thunderstorms at the Volvo PGA Championship at Wentworth.

Kingston, whose opening 67 for joint second place was followed by a desperately disappointing 76, went to the turn in 32 and when he added further birdies at the 11th and 12th, he was back up to six under par and joint eighth place.

Levet also survived the halfway cut with nothing to spare at one under and after an outward 33 he started for home with three successive birdies to be six under as well.

But going best of all was Romero, the South American charging to seven under and third spot by covering the front nine in 32 and picking up more strokes at the 10th, 12th and 13th.

Six under for the day Romero needed three more birdies in the last five holes - two of them par fives - to equal the course record of 63 established by Australian Wayne Riley in 1991 and matched in the last two years by Angel Cabrera and Jarrod Moseley.

Sandy Lyle was happy with his progress early on too. He improved from one under to four under in the first 11 holes.

At nine under, Darren Clarke led by one overnight from Niclas Fasth, with Romero joining Ian Woosnam, Kenneth Ferrie, Robert Rock and Soren Hansen on seven under.