Els can't get on Swiss roll

Ernie Els struggled to build on an explosive start to his second round in the Omega European Masters.

Starting on the 10th, Els took advantage of playing at high altitude in the Swiss Alps to smash his opening drive to within 10 yards of the green on the 407-yard par four and pitched to six feet to set up a birdie three.

That briefly took the world number two into the lead on his own at seven under par, one clear of defending champion Robert Karlsson who was among the later starters, but the 33-year-old could not maintain his flying start.

He bogeyed the par-three 13th and then failed to birdie either the 14th or 15th, both par fives easily reachable in two, before dropping another shot on the 17th.

Playing partner Michael Campbell took full advantage of Els’ problems, the New Zealander also dropping a shot at the 13th but picking up birdies at 14, 15 and 17 to be out in 33.

Campbell then also birdied the second to move into a share of the lead on seven under par alongside Lancashire’s Paul Eales, who had eagled the par-four seventh.

Eales is one of the shorter hitters on tour, but aided by the new Callaway ball and thinner air which helps the ball fly further, drove the green on the 330-yard par four and holed out for a two.

Earlier in the day Seve Ballesteros’ miserable season continued as the five-time major winner withdrew with a back injury before his second round.

Ballesteros, who made his first appearance for almost four months in the BMW International Open last week, had struggled to an opening 74, three over par, at Crans-sur-Sierre.

It means the 46-year-old has made two cuts in seven events this season, although on both occasions his limited success was marred by controversy.

In the Madeira Island Open Ballesteros was convinced he had missed the cut at seven over par and blamed the fact that he had been told to speed up play because his group had fallen 36 minutes behind schedule.

He accused tournament director Jose Maria Zamora of calling him a liar and ended up having a blazing row in the car park with his fellow Spaniard.

And after making the cut in the Italian Open in May Ballesteros was disqualified after his third round for refusing to accept a one-shot penalty for slow play and altering his scorecard.

He then called a press conference and accused the European Tour "mafia" of waging "a war" against him, alleging officials were out to get him because of his membership of the so-called ‘Gang of Four’ who had complained about how the tour was being run.

The following week he missed the cut in the Benson and Hedges International Open at the Belfry and was last seen at the Volvo PGA championship at Wentworth where he pulled out citing flu after being fined and severely reprimanded for his conduct in Italy.

Wales’ Jamie Donaldson meanwhile had joined Ballesteros in pulling out with a bad back, the unfortunate 27-year-old lying just three off the lead at the time.

Donaldson, who had opened with a 69 and birdied his first hole this morning to be three under par, received treatment from the tour physios on the seventh hole but could not continue after hitting his tee shot