Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy needs to quickly get back into a regular sleep pattern if he is to become the third youngest winner on the European Tour.

McIlroy battled his way through a restless night when he dreamt of capturing the Omega European Masters before emerging on day two to card a level par 71 and end the round sharing the lead on eight- under with Australian defending champion, Brett Rumford.

The US Tour-based Rumford is a former Irish Open winner and he added a second straight 67 in a best display of the season for the 31-year-old.

McIlroy recorded three birdies and as many bogeys in the bright, but windy conditions on the Alpine Crans-sur-Sierre course.

But it was McIlroy's explanation for his tossing and turning overnight that drew interest after his round.

"I caught myself thinking of winning last night, so I put the tennis on TV to take my mind off it," he said.

"I watched Federer but then had to get up for a drink at 4.0. The New York Giants were playing the Washington Redskins so I watched about half-an-hour of that and then went back to bed.

"Golf Night was on initially when I woke up and I didn't want to be thinking about golf, so I turned the TV over to the tennis."

If successful, McIlroy would become the Tour's third youngest winner behind South African Dale Hayes and Spanish maestro Seve Ballesteros.

McIlroy would be only seven days older than Ballesteros when he won the 1976 Dutch Open.

Peter Lawrie also remained in sight of a second Tour win this season after his second round 69 left him with a six-under-par tally. He afterwards admitted that his driving is sharper at this stage compared to when he captured the Spanish Open earlier this year.

"I am driving the ball very similar if not better than when I won in Spain, but my iron play is not quite as good," he said.

"I played nicely, but just didn't hole too many putts and while two-under-par didn't flatter me, I am not unhappy with the score." And Lawrie was full of praise for McIlroy in an effort many observers, including Lawrie, believes was long overdue.

"I've always said Rory was a superstar in the making, and it was just a matter of when," said Lawrie.

David Higgins carded a 70 to miss the cut by a stroke with a one-over-par tally in only his fifth Tour start this year and Gary Murphy's hopes of boosting his current 85th place standing on the Order of Merit ended with a 72 for a three-over-par tally.