KEY POINTS:
Michael Campbell made a stunning return to form but he was overshadowed by compatriot Steve Alker as New Zealand set up camp atop the Wales Open golf leaderboard this morning (NZ time).
Alker was in a nine-way tie for the lead on four-under 65 at The Celtic Manor Resort course in Newport, while Campbell shot 66 to end an horrific recent run of poor scoring.
Alker's best finish in 10 tournaments on the European Tour this year is 23rd in February's Indonesian Open. He has accumulated just over 24,000 euros ($45,000).
In wet, difficult conditions, he shot five birdies and a sole bogey today, charging home with 31 on the back nine.
Level in the lead are Britons Paul Lawrie and Paul Broadhurst, Australian Brett Rumford, Argentine Ricardo Gonzalez, Dane Soren Kjeldsen, Spain's Jose Manuel Lara and Scottish pair Steven O'Hara and Gary Orr.
A shot back among another 13 golfers is Campbell, who shot his best score of the year and ended nearly six months of anxiety two weeks before the US Open.
It came a week after the New Zealander missed the cut in the European Tour flagship PGA Championship at Wentworth by seven strokes following rounds of 78 and 75.
Campbell shot a 64 in the Champions tournament at the start of the European Tour season in China last November to finish third and a 65 in the New Zealand Open in early December to finish second but since then his form has dried up.
He put his change in fortunes down to a different mindset.
"For the last six months my head has been full of too much technique and I've been thinking too much on the course," he told Reuters.
"I felt it was time to break away from that and today I just visualised the shot and got on with it, the same as I used to do when I was a kid. This is my first sub-70 round of 2007."
- NZPA, REUTERS
