Lee Westwood battling former caddie Wilson in Qatar

Joint overnight leader Wilson, who caddied for then county champion Westwood some 20 years ago, picked up two late birdies in a bogey-free 70 at the Doha Golf Club to join the world No4 at seven-under par.

Westwood, 36, struggled at times to maintain control of his swing but continued to reap the benefits of a new set of irons to card a satisfying three-under 69.

"I haven't holed anything, but I'm still feeling solid over holing out so I'm definitely getting better and maybe something will click," said 29-year-old Wilson. "It was getting frustrating, but it was nice to get something out of the round at the end."

Westwood recalled a moment during his meeting with a young Wilson when he was handed a driver for a reachable 280-yard par four only for the Worksop golfer to fly the green by 30 yards after initially opting for a three wood. "That ended his caddying days," said Westwood. "But he's turned out to be a better player than a caddy unfortunately."

Out in front, Australian Rumford set the midway mark at nine under par after dropping just one shot in carding the best round of a windswept week as a six-under-par 66 helped him open up a one-shot lead over Bradley Dredge.

And world No360 Rumford hopes that will be the shape of things to come after returning to Europe last season following a disappointing campaign on the US PGA Tour.

"My goal is the world ranking points at the moment to get my ranking up higher," said the 2007 European Masters winner. "Looking back on it, I should have gone back to the qualifying school in 2009 and given it another crack. The first year over in the States after never playing there was a pretty tough goal to try and maintain a tour card. I thought I'd excel, a few players have done that, but it's very difficult."

Joint overnight leader Dredge had to settle for a three-under 69 after failing to take full advantage of calm conditions as the Welshman only made his move up the leaderboard with two birdies over his final three holes.

Robert Karlsson made the best move of the afternoon starters, carding a two-under 70 to progress to six under par alongside Niclas Fasth (68) with Peter Hanson (69) and Africa Open and Joburg Open winner Charl Schwartzel (69) a further shot off the pace. Sergio Garcia and Paul Casey sit well placed at four-under-par, but new world No10 Ian Poulter missed the cut by a single stroke after only managing a level-par second round.

Only three Scots made the cut, with Marc Warren taking pride of place among that trio as his steady start to the season continued with a second successive 71 to share 17th spot on two-under. The two-time European Tour winner has been a model of consistency so far this week, recording three birdies, one bogey and the rest pars in the opening 36 holes.

Richie Ramsay, who started the day inside the top ten, had a double-bogey 5 at the short eighth in a 73 that dropped him back to a tie for 20th on one-under, two ahead of Stephen Gallacher, who had six birdies in his second-round 70.

Former Qatar Masters winners Paul Lawrie (72) and Andrew Coltart (75) both missed out on three-over, one less than Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie (72) while Gary Orr (74) and David Drysdale (73) finished on six-over.

Alastair Forsyth was last of the nine Scots who started out this week after a second-round 78 left him on eight-over.