MOSCOW: Overnight leader David Horsey shot a 4-under 68 Friday for a two-stroke lead at the halfway mark of the Russian Open.

The 29-year-old Englishman dropped two shots in his first four holes of the second round but then birdied four of the last six for an overall 11-under 133.

Double European Tour winner Horsey is just one of three players in the world’s top 200 competing at the Tseleevo Golf and Polo Club course near Moscow.

Belgium rookie Thomas Pieters is second on 9 under after also shooting 68.

Scotland’s Peter Whiteford, looking for his first Tour success in his 181st tournament, shot a 1-under 71 and is third at 7 under.

Horsey last won in 2011 at the Trophee Hassan II in Morocco but made major changes to his swing at the start of the year.

“Dropping a couple of shots early on as I did is always disappointing ... I just needed to stay patient and keep giving myself birdie putts,” Horsey said.

The 22-year-old Pieters turned professional 13 months ago but has only managed to make the halfway cut in five events this year with his best finish being second in May’s Spanish Open.

Whiteford went close to a maiden Tour win last year, losing a playoff for the Ballantine’s Championship in South Korea.

Now the 33-year old Scot has put himself into contention again for a breakthrough success on the European Tour.

“My start today was shocking as my first tee shot went straight into the rubbish, and I was four over par after five holes,” he said. “But it was a good fightback.”

Jarrod Lyle opens with 67 in US return

In Overland Park, Kansas, Jarrod Lyle shot a 4-under 67 on Thursday in the Web.com Tour’s Midwest Classic, the Australian’s first US event since his second bout with leukemia.

“I think the most surprising thing was my focus,” Lyle said. “People talk about a game face and I was ready to go on the first tee. I think that shows that it’s all starting to come back for me.”

Traveling with wife Briony and 2-year-old daughter Lusi, the 32-year-old Lyle had four front-nine birdies in his bogey-free round at the Nicklaus Golf Club at LionsGate. He was three strokes behind leader Paul Haley II.

“My only goal was to play for four days,” Lyle said. “That’s pretty much all I came here to do. It was a lot better than I thought it was going to be at the start of the week.”

Lyle hit eight greens on the back nine, but missed an 8-footer for birdie on No. 16 and a 6-foot birdie try on 18.

“I’m just putting it down to rust,” Lyle said. “It’s just one of those things when you haven’t played in a long time you start seeing things on the greens that aren’t there or you don’t see things that are there.”

Lyle also is set to play Web.com Tour events Aug. 7-10 in Springfield, Missouri, and Aug. 14-17 in Knoxville, Tennessee. When Lyle returns to the PGA Tour for the start of the season in October, he will have 20 events to earn $283,825 and reach the equivalent of No. 125 on the money list in 2012, the year he suffered a recurrence.

Lyle returned to professional golf in November in the Australian Masters and played in the Victorian Open in Melbourne in February.