Rory McIlroy and Australia's defending champion Brett Rumford shared the lead after two rounds of the Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre.

McIlroy, 19, who is aiming to be the youngest European Tour winner since Seve Ballesteros in 1976, fired a level-par 71 to reach eight under.

Rumford kept the pressure on the Northern Irishman after scoring his second successive round of 67.

Miguel Angel Jimenez, the only Ryder Cup star in action, was three back.

McIlroy and Rumford are a stroke ahead of Juan Abbate of Argentina (67), Spaniard Alejandro Canizares (68) and Frenchman Jean-Francois Lucquin (67) in Switzerland.

After shooting his lowest round as a pro - a 63 - in the opening round, McIlroy prepared for Friday by staying up to watch the US Open tennis and American football.

"I just want to take it one step at a time, but I caught myself thinking about it last night and put the tennis on to take my mind off it," said McIlroy.

"It's always difficult following a low round. My iron play was not as good as yesterday and I holed a lot of par putts on the back nine to keep me going, so a 71 was pretty good."

The 31-year-old Rumford's move to the top of the leaderboard has come after a mediocre run on the US PGA Tour where he is struggling to keep his card.

The three-time European Tour winner explained why he has turned his fortunes around again.

"Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting a different result," said Rumford.

"That's the trap golfers very often get stuck in. The trick, I've found, is to identify something that's not working and change it."

Ireland's Peter Lawrie (69), Sweden's Fredrik Andersson Hed and Britain's Simon Dyson (both 67) were two strokes behind the leaders.

Finland's Mikko Ilonen (70) was in top spot at one stage in the afternoon, but bogeyed four of his last five holes to go back to five under and into a group which includes Jimenez.

If McIlroy does win, he would be the third youngest winner in Tour history, just five days older than Ballesteros was at the 1976 Dutch Open.