Carter sees the light

England’s David Carter, without a European Tour victory in nine years, emerged from a “deep, dark hole” to lead the KLM Open at the halfway stage..

Carter carded a second consecutive 65 at Kennemer Golf Club for a 10-under-par total of 130, two shots ahead of Sweden’s Alexander Noren, New Zealand’s Steve Alker and local favourite Joost Luiten.

The 35-year-old won the Irish Open in 1998 and lifted the World Cup with Nick Faldo in New Zealand later the same year, but has not finished inside the top 75 on the Order of Merit since 1999.

Born in Johannesburg but now based in Gothenburg, Carter had to return to the qualifying school in 2003 and finished 27th in the final event of last season to keep his card by less than £2,700.

He faces another battle this year, currently occupying a lowly 186th on the money list with only the top 115 guaranteed to keep their playing rights for 2008, but victory here on Sunday would instantly secure a two-year tour exemption and the first prize of £180,000.

“It’s great to be leading, this is what we play the game for,” Carter said. “Of course I’m going to be nervous tomorrow but I’m nervous every time I play and that’s a good thing.

“I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing and enjoy it – after all, how many times have I led a tournament in my career? It’s not many.”

Not surprisingly for someone who almost died in Dubai in 1997 when he required emergency brain surgery after collapsing in his hotel room, Carter has a measured response to the threat of losing his card.

But he admits there were times this season when he was seriously contemplating his future in the game.

“I try to think of keeping my card as a challenge. It’s not a train smash, it’s part of the job,” he said.

“It’s not nice to be 186th on the money list and be trying to secure your job for next year but I can’t run away from it, I have to deal with it.

“I think Loch Lomond this year was really when I was thinking ’What am I doing?’ I’d missed four cuts in a row and then had to pull out 15 minutes before my tee time because my back went into spasm.

“When you’re in that deep, dark hole you don’t know how you’re going to get out. It’s tough to believe in yourself at the time.

“I never forget Wayne Riley telling me when I had been out here two or three years that it doesn’t get any easier. I thought it should do as you’ve played all the courses before and know what to expect.

“I think what he meant was that you get scarred from hitting bad shots and missing cuts. When you’re young you haven’t hit many bad shots, missed cuts or lost tournaments. It’s all exciting and stimulating being here.

“You need to be inspired and want to be out here and sometimes I wasn’t as inspired as I was when I first came out.

“Plus we had a little boy and that changes your life completely. He is four years old and last week he watched me for three rounds, walking with his mum. That gave me inspiration.

“It doesn’t matter what score I shoot as long as I take him a present home!

“But there are a lot of young guys who are hungry and if you don’t have their drive you stand still, and if you stand still you’re going backwards.”

Luiten is virtually unknown outside his native Holland but helped his country win the Eisenhower Trophy (world amateur team championships) last year and has won twice on the Challenge Tour this season - shooting final rounds of 64 and 61.

The 21-year-old said: “It’s great, I’m playing with a lot of confidence and I’m enjoying it. I like playing in the big tournaments and I hope I can do well at the weekend and do something special here.

“At the start of the season my goal was to get onto the Challenge Tour from the EPD Tour (in Germany) but now that I’ve won twice I want to finish in the top 10 in the rankings and try to get as much European Tour experience as I can, and then finish in the top 100 on the Order of Merit next year.”

Stefan Langer endured another nightmare day on his tour debut, the 17-year-old son of former Ryder Cup captain Bernhard adding a 91 to his opening 98 to finish 49 over par.

Langer carded three triple bogeys, four double bogeys and five bogeys – but did at least manage a birdie on the par-three 15th.