At halfway he is 10 under and two in front of compatriot Anders Hansen, England’s David Howell and Philip Golding, Spaniard Jose Manuel Lara and Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts. Justin Rose and Scot Stephen Gallacher are one further behind.

Two years ago, after getting the better of Tiger Woods head-to-head in Dubai, Bjorn reached 10th in the world – and expected to go higher.

He is currently 44th, but still thinks he can do it.

“I know I have the golf game and think my best game is among the best in the world. But I don’t perform my best all the time,” commented the 32-year-old.

“I don’t know why, but I think in the last year I haven’t played enough. I seem to play my best when I get into a routine of playing a lot of tournaments and that’s what I’m going into now.

“I’m playing nine out of the next 10 weeks and I’m looking forward to it. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Bjorn has not been helped by a couple of problems off the course this season.

His Swedish wife Pernilla gave birth to twins on March 31 and one of them, son Oliver, had breathing difficulties at first. The Masters was among the tournaments he missed and it was six weeks before he returned to action.

Then, after losing to Padraig Harrington in a play-off for the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open, he cut a hand slicing an avocado and had to pull out of the British Masters.

His nine-birdie 64 was not without its alarms – he nearly went in the water on the 18th – but it boosted his confidence for the coming weeks. They include, of course, the Open at Royal St George’s in Kent on July 17-20.

Bjorn no longer carries his country’s hopes alone. At Gleneagles last Sunday Soren Kjeldsen became the fifth Danish winner in little over a year and one of the others, Anders Hansen, has himself returned to form with a 66.

It lifted last season’s Volvo PGA champion into the hunt for his first win since then, while Howell, who had eight birdies in 10 holes around the turn en route to a 65, seeks his first victory since the 1999 Dubai Desert Classic.

Golding, Lara and Colsaerts have yet to taste success. Lara was joint runner-up in last month’s Italian Open, but Golding, from Luton, is the 40-year-old who has made a record 16 trips to the tour qualifying school and has never finished higher than sixth, while 20-year-old Colsaerts has yet to have a top 10 finish.

French Scores

134 Thomas Bjorn (Den) 70 64

136 Anders Hansen (Den) 70 66, Philip Golding 66 70, David Howell 71 65, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 67 69, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 66 70

137 Stephen Gallacher 68 69, Justin Rose 68 69

138 Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 70 68, Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 70 68, Graeme McDowell 70 68, Barry Lane 70 68, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 70 68, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 70 68, Pierre Fulke (Swe) 70 68

139 Simon Dyson 70 69, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 70 69, Richard Bland 72 67, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 71 68, Andrew Oldcorn 69 70, Bradley Dredge 67 72, Peter O’Malley (Aus) 70 69, Stephen Dodd 72 67

140 Santiago Luna (Spa) 70 70, David Carter 71 69, Brian Davis 68 72, Simon Wakefield 70 70, John Bickerton 69 71, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 70 70

141 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 67 74, Alastair Forsyth 68 73, David Park 72 69, Raymond Russell 71 70, Gary Evans 72 69, Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 69 72, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 71 70, Marc Farry (Fra) 68 73, Per Nyman (Swe) 72 69, Gary Birch 67 74, (x) Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 70 71, Peter Fowler (Aus) 72 69

142 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 71 71, Sven Struver (Ger) 70 72, Greg Turner (Nzl) 73 69, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 72 70, Matthew Blackey 71 71, Ronan Rafferty 70 72, Olivier Edmond (Fra) 70 72, Julien Van Hauwe (Fra) 74 68, Ian Garbutt 71 71, Gary Murphy 68 74, Fredrik Widmark (Swe) 73 69, Robert-Jan Derksen (Fra) 68 74

143 Paul McGinley 71 72, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 71 72, Mark Pilkington 72 71, Kenneth Ferrie 71 72, Martin Maritz (Spa) 73 70, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 73 70, Miles Tunnicliff 74 69, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 72 71, Eduardo Romero (Arg) 75 68, (x) Eric Chaudouet (Fra) 66 77, Ian Poulter 75 68, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 71 72, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 69 74, Jonathan Lomas

144 Iain Pyman 69 75, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 74 70, Anthony Wall 72 72, Jamie Donaldson 71 73, Benn Barham 71 73, Richard Green (Aus) 74 70, Sebastien Delagrange (Fra) 71 73, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 74 70, Shaun Webster 71 73, Greg Owen 75 69, Charlie Wi (Kor) 71 73, Adam Scott (Aus), David Gilford 71 73

145 Andrew Coltart 74 71, Roger Wessels (Rsa) 77 68, Fredrik Andersson (Swe) 72 73, Alexandre Balicki (Fra) 71 74, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 73 72, Terry Price (Aus) 72 73

146 Tobias Dier (Ger) 72 74, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 70 76, Francisco Cea (Spa) 75 71, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 77 69, Mark James 72 74, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 71 75, David Dupart (Fra) 77 69, David Dixon 73 73, Steve Webster 72 74

147 Jamie Spence 76 71, Markus Brier (Aut) 74 73, Simon Hurd 73 74, Steen Tinning (Den) 76 71, David Lynn 73 74, Nick O’Hern (Aus) 75 72

148 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 76 72, Lee James 75 73, Marc Pendaries (Fra) 77 71, Nick Dougherty 75 73, Tony Johnstone (Zim) 72 76, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 72 76

149 Mark Roe 72 77, Jan-Are Larsen (Nor) 79 70, Adam Mednick (Swe) 76 73, Mark McNulty (Zim) 77 72, Paul Broadhurst 71 78, Soren Hansen (Den) 68 81

150 Costantino Rocca (Ita) 76 74, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 76 74, Zane Scotland 75 75

151 Paul Eales 76 75, Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 79 72

152 (x) Bertrand Coathalem (Fra), Lionel Alexandre (Fra) 79 73, Christophe Pottier (Fra) 72 80, Philip Walton 77 75

153 Marten Olander (Swe) 78 75, Malcolm Mackenzie 76 77, Alex Larrazabal (Spa) 78 75

155 Gregory Havret (Fra) 74 81

157 (x) Nicolas Allain (Fra) 79 78

Retired Rolf Muntz (Ned), Mikael Lundberg (Swe)

Disqualified Roger Chapman